Nicole Martin's Tale
by SlytherinGirl26
Summary: When Nicole Martin moves from France to England after choosing Hogwarts over Beauxbatons, she befriends the Marauders and Lily, Alice, Marlene and Isabella. What will life be like for her in England? T for language.
1. Off to Hogwarts!

**A/N: Ok then, I'm not one of those hopeless 'I-want-to-write-about-someone-from-another-country-with-absolutely-no-knowledge!' people. I actually do study French, I am in my second year of it, and for your information, I can count up to 1000 in it. I kid you not. **

**Extra note: Yes, this is an extra-long author's note but please read it. This story is just for fun. It will in no way take precedence over my schoolwork so if I don't update in yonks, please bear with me; I will either be snowed under with homework or I'll just have a massive case of writer's block, in which I will ask you readers for ideas. I am halfway through high school and even though I don't get very many assignments and all that now, just wait till next year and the years after… -_-**

**Oh, and if you guys would prefer me to write Nicole's speech as normal, I will spell her words properly from next chapter onwards and you can imagine her accent. Similarly, please tell me if you feel that I am slipping too much French in.**

**Disclaimer: I wish I could say that I own this but I don't. I only own Nicole Martin.**

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"Ees zis eet, Maman?" I asked, looking at the barrier between platforms nine and ten.

"Oui, zis ees the place, bébé fille," Maman smiled.

"Do not call me zat!" I said crossly. "I am not a baby girl anymore!"

"You will always be my baby girl," Maman smiled and I rolled my eyes.

"Come on, we will push zis togezzer," Papa said, giving me the trolley. He stood behind me and bent so that I was in his arms and we were both holding the trolley. "One, two, three!" I started to run, pushing my trolley with Papa, and we burst through the barrier and onto a crowded platform.

"Wow! C'est incroyable!" I breathed as I took in my surroundings.

"Eet ees amazing, is it not?" Maman smiled as she appeared behind me.

"Oui!" I cried. I pushed my trolley along the platform, trying to find an empty compartment.

"You will probably never find one," Papa grinned as he helped me search. "I am surprised that there is enough space for all the students actually."

"Eet ees a zing called magic, Antoine," my mother teased. "I never went to 'Ogwarts and even I can figure eet out!" In retaliation, Papá stuck his tongue out.

"I never went to 'Ogwarts either!" he shot back.

"I am going to keep looking for a compartment!" I said when they began to ignore me with their flirting. When they did not reply, I sighed, gave them a hug each and walked off. I spied a red-haired girl with an older blonde girl that I assumed was her sister and they appeared to be having a conversation, though the blonde was pale and the redhead was close to tears.

"Freak!" the blonde spat and flounced off to her parents. The redhead grabbed her trunk and pushed through the crowd and I had the impression that she was trying to hide the tears sliding down her cheeks.

"Enfin! Il est grand temps!" I muttered as I spotted an empty compartment. I put my owl, Rose, into the compartment and then attempted to lift my trunk. Unfortunately, it was a little bit too heavy...

"Need a hand?" I spun around. Behind me was a handsome boy with long, black hair, grey eyes and a giant smirk plastered on his face. Though compared to some of the boys I had seen back in France, he was nothing.

"Oui," I replied and he frowned slightly. "I mean, yes. Please," I added. He grabbed my trunk and, together, we hauled it into the compartment.

"Mind if I sit with you?" he asked, pulling his trunk forward. Before I could even answer him, he said, "Thanks," and pushed his trunk up. He was surprisingly strong for such a thin eleven-year-old.

"Come on, we'd better get in there," he said and, grabbing my wrist, he pulled me in and shut the door behind us. I wrenched my wrist out of his hand and sat down opposite him.

"What ees your name?" I asked, staring at him.

"Sirius," he replied after a moment, brushing the hair out of his eyes.

"Sirius who?" He hesitated, almost as if he didn't want to tell me.

"Sirius Black." There was a silence.

"Nice name," I said and he almost looked surprised.

"You don't know…?"

"Know what?" I frowned.

"Never mind," Sirius muttered and suddenly brightened up. "Who are you, fair maiden?"

"Nicole Martin."

"Pleased to make your acquaintance, milady," he said mockingly, kissing the back of my hand.

"And you too, kind sir," I smiled.

"You sound French," Sirius commented.

"Oui, I am French," I replied. "We moved to Eengland a few months ago, since Auntie Julie is Eenglish and she went to 'Ogwarts, and I wanted to go zere rather zan Beauxbatons. That is also 'ow I know Eenglish," I added, "zough I am not ze best at it. I 'ave 'eard that 'Ogwarts is one of ze best schools, zough."

"It is," Sirius replied and before I could say something, the compartment door opened and another boy walked in.

"Can I sit here?" he asked with a cocky grin. His hair was messy and jet-black and his twinkling hazel eyes were hidden behind a pair of round glasses. He was hot but, in my opinion, not as hot as Sirius.

"Yes, you may," I nodded and he lifted his trunk into the overhanging bit and then sat down next to Sirius.

"You're very formal," he said. "And pretty." I flushed pink.

"She's French, man!" Sirius hissed and the boy's mouth dropped open slightly, while I narrowed my eyes at Sirius.

"So, who are you?" the boy asked as he looked over me with a raised eyebrow.

"Nicole Martin," I smiled.

"She grins for him but she doesn't grin for me," Sirius muttered in mock-annoyance. I flashed him a wide grin.

"Zere, I grinned for you!" I said.

"Thank you!" Sirius said with an answering grin.

"Am I even here?" the boy said.

"No," Sirius and I said together.

"Thanks for that," he pouted and Sirius and I smirked at him.

"And what would your name be?" I asked.

"James Potter," he said with another cocky grin. "And you?" he added to Sirius.

"Sirius Black." James winked at him and as the train started to move, I waved to my parents when I saw them pass by.

"Au revoir!" they yelled.

"Au revoir, maman! Au revoir, papa!" I called as I hung out of the window. Maman managed to plant a kiss on my nose before our compartment passed them.

The compartment door opened yet again and we all looked up to see a girl walk in - the same redheaded girl I had seen on the platform. I could see tears in her almond-shaped green eyes and she ignored me, James and Sirius as she sat in the corner on my side. The boys looked at her for a moment and then continued their loud conversation, but I noticed that James' eyes kept flickering to the girl.

"Are you ok?" I asked the girl softly.

"F-Fine," she sniffed.

"What is your name?"

"L-Lily Evans."

"And I am Nicole Martin." She nodded and rested her head on the wall, still crying.

"Mon dieu! What ees wrong?" I said.

"M–My sister h–hates me!" Lily sobbed. "B–Because I'm a w–witch and she's n–not!" I was clueless; I may have a lot of cousins but I did not know what she was feeling, so I did not know how to comfort her. Luckily, she provided the answer.

"C–Can you just l–leave me alone for a bit?" she said. "I–I just want t–to b–be alone." I nodded and moved away from her.

"Could you be any louder?" I muttered to James and Sirius, who were arguing about Quidditch teams.

"YES!" they hollered.

"Vous êtes des idiots!" I muttered, slapping my face with my palm.

"What does that mean?" James asked.

"You are idiots!" I told him.

"Why be all impressive about it?" Sirius said, resting his feet on my lap. I pushed them off, only to have him put them back up. "I mean, if you want to say that we're idiots, you don't need to be fancy about it!"

"I 'ave only been in Eengland for a few months," I said. "I slip back eento French sometimes. I cannot 'elp it. And cut zat out!" I pushed Sirius' feet off me again. I looked out the window as James and Sirius started talking again and saw that we were speeding through the countryside.

"Oh come on, no one beats the Cannons!" Sirius protested loudly.

"You've got to be kidding!" James said back. "Those losers? The Tornadoes will smash them!"

"I am sorry, Sirius," I said with a grin, "but I 'ave to agree with James. Ze Cannons are rubbish!"

"Hey!" Sirius said with a mock-glare at me as James smirked widely. "I thought you were on my side!"

"I am not," I said. "And I am not on James' side eizer. I am on ze 'Olyhead 'Arpies' side."

"Them?" the boys said together.

"Yes, zem," I said with a sweet smile. The boys decided to resume their conversation and I was only too happy to tune out as I watched a light drizzle outside. The door opened again and only Lily and I noticed the boy standing there. He had black hair, sallow skin and was already wearing his robes. He walked in and sat opposite Lily, looking at her with sorrow (at least, I think it was sorrow). She turned her head to look at him, tear tracks down her face.

"I don't want to talk to you," she said in a low voice.

"Why not?" the boy said.

"Oui, why not?" I said, looking between the two. "Did you 'urt 'er? We French are very protective of family and friends." Lily gave me a weak smile. "And who are you?"

"I'd never want to hurt her!" the boy said, glaring at me. "And I'm Severus Snape."

"I don't want to talk to you," Lily repeated to Severus. "Tuney h – hates me. Because we saw that letter from Dumbledore."

"So what?" Lily gave Severus a look of deep dislike and I glared at him.

"So she's my sister!" Lily said.

"She's only a -" Severus stopped mid-sentence but Lily did not appear to notice; she was wiping her face to get rid of the tears and trying not to be noticed.

"Only a Muggle?" I whispered. Severus glared at me, but it was marred with sorrow. He turned to Lily and said, "But we're going! This is it! We're off to Hogwarts!" Lily nodded with a small smile, mopping her eyes.

"You'd better be in Slytherin," Severus told Lily.

"Slytherin?" James looked around at the word. "Who wants to be in Slytherin? I think I'd leave, wouldn't you?"

_I have a very bad feeling about this! _I thought.

"My whole family's been in Slytherin," Sirius said, unsmiling.

"Blimey, and I thought you were alright!" James said and Sirius grinned.

"Maybe I'll break the tradition. Where're you hoping to go, if you get the choice?" I would've replied but I was too busy trying to stay out of it. And yes, I do know about the houses; Auntie Julie told me about them and she was a Gryffindor herself.

James lifted an invisible sword and said "'Gryffindor, where dwell the brave at heart!' Like my dad." Severus made a small noise and James turned to him.

"Got a problem with that?"

"No." Severus had a sneer on his face that said otherwise. "If you'd rather be brawny than brainy -"

"I do not like where zis ees going," I muttered but I was ignored.

"Where're you hoping to go, seeing as you're neither?" Sirius interrupted. James roared with laughter, I glared at Sirius and James and Lily eyed them with distaste.

"Come on Severus, let's find another compartment," she said and she stood up, followed by Severus.

"Oooooo..." James and Sirius imitated her voice and I held my head in my hands. As Severus passed, James tried to trip him.

"See ya later, Snivellus!" Sirius called. The compartment door shut and I turned to the boys, my temper finally breaking.

"I zought you two were nice!" I said loudly. "I zought you two were going to be my friends! I guess I was wrong. You boys are a disgrace to Eenglish boys!" I grabbed my trunk and exited the compartment in a huff, completely missing the apologetic looks being sent my way as I muttered under my breath in French. Only when I had moved up the train did I realise that I had nowhere to sit. But luck was on my side. I noticed a compartment with only one boy in it, who was reading.

"May I sit here?" I asked the boy. He looked up from his book and nodded, then went back to reading. I dropped my trunk and then sat down opposite him.

"Who are you?" I said. He looked up from his book again and I noticed some faint scars on his face. I wondered how he got them and I was so deep in thought that I almost missed his answer.

"Remus Lupin. And you?"

"Nicole Martin. I moved 'ere from France a few months ago to come to 'Ogwarts." I studied the boy closely; he had sandy hair, amber eyes and pale skin.

"France? I've always wanted to go there," Remus smiled. "It sounds amazing, from what I've read!"

"Oh, eet ees! C'est beau!" I said

"You like to read?" Remus asked me.

"Oui, I love to read!" I said and Remus beamed. "What are you reading?"

"_Hogwarts: A History_."

"I 'ave not read zat book. Ees eet good?"

"It's excellent! Did you know that the ceiling in the Great Hall is bewitched to look like the sky outside?"

"Really?" I said in interest and he nodded happily. Just then, we were interrupted by the door opening and a smiling, dimpled lady poking her head in.

"Anything off the trolley, dears?" she said. I jumped up excitedly; I was starving and all I had had for breakfast was a couple of pieces of toast.

"Some Chocolate Frogs, Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans and Cauldron Cakes, s'il vous plaît," I said, tipping some money into the woman's hand. "I mean please," I added when she stared at me. She looked at Remus, who shook his head.

"Why are you not getting anyzing?" I asked him as the woman disappeared.

"Not hungry," he said, but I knew it was a lie from the way he was staring at my Chocolate Frogs.

_Maybe he can't afford it, _I thought and instantly felt bad.

"Ere, 'ave a Frog," I said and tossed him one.

"Oh, no, you don't have to -" I cut Remus off mid-protest.

"I want to share zem with you, Remus," I told him. "Please take one. I will not finish zem all and I will feel 'orrible if I seet here and not share." Remus took a Frog with a smile.

"Thanks." He bit into his Frog with a satisfied moan. I recognised the symptoms from my father.

"La dépendance au chocolat? Chocolate addiction?" I grinned. He nodded as he tore into his second Frog. I left the Frogs to Remus and decided to start on the Every Flavour Beans.

"I'd be careful of them," he warned with his mouth full.

"I 'ave eaten some before, you know," I said and popped a bean into my mouth while rolling my eyes. "Mmm, strawberry!" Suddenly, there was a crash out in the corridor and Remus and I jumped up.

"Come on, let's see what's going on," Remus said and we exited the compartment together, wands out (even though we didn't know any spells). A small boy with mousy brown hair and blue eyes was cowering on the ground, while some people stood over him. What looked like a fifth year boy with blond hair was teasing him and raining down the occasional hex and a few people behind him were jeering. Some of them included a blonde girl who looked a year younger than the blond boy, a dark-haired boy with brown eyes and two thug-like fifteen-year-olds with dark hair.

"Arrêter! Leave 'im alone!" I shouted and pointed my wand at the group. The blond boy paused in the middle of hexing the boy on the ground again and looked up at me with a strange smile.

"What do we have here, an ickle first year?" he mocked, raising his wand. "Come to save your little friend?"

"I do not even know zat guy," I said, gesturing to the boy on the floor with my wand. "But I cannot let you get away with zis! Zis ees wrong!"

"Famous last words," the dark-haired boy snorted.

"That's enough, Rodolphus," the blond boy said, his smirk growing wider. "I think we should teach this young lady here what happens if you annoy us, don't you think, Narcissa?"

"Definitely, Lucius," the blonde girl nodded.

"Fernun-"

"Get down!" someone behind me shouted and I was pushed to the ground as the curse sailed over my head and hit an inquisitive person behind me.

"Are you alright?" the person asked and helped me to my feet. I turned and saw that I was looking into the face of Sirius Black.

"Je suis bien," I answered. "I am fine."

"Ah, dear Cissy," Sirius sneered, looking at Narcissa.

"Sirius," she sneered back. I noticed James behind Sirius with his wand out and Remus had his wand pointed at Rodolphus, who looked like he wanted to curse one of us. The two heavily-built boys were pointing their wands at me, but I got the feeling that they were thicker than a man under a Veela's spell.

"Come on," Lucius muttered. "Let's get out of here." He left, flanked by his cronies.

"You ok?" James said to the cowering boy, who nodded. He helped him up, while Sirius and Remus looked at each other interestedly.

"I see you've made a friend, Nicole," Sirius grinned to me, nodding his head at Remus.

"And 'e ees way better company zan you," I responded. "At least 'e doesn't argue about Quidditch."

"I'm hurt," Sirius pouted, putting a hand over his heart. Remus grinned at me and I grinned back.

"So, who's the young man who's stolen my Nicki's heart?" Sirius said to Remus.

"Remus Lupin," he replied. "And you're welcome to her heart if you want it."

"Remus!" I protested. "I am 'urt!"

"If you boys have finished arguing over who Nicole's future husband is," James said and both Sirius and Remus said, "Hey!"

"So, what ees your name?" I asked the mousy-haired boy.

"P–Peter Pettigrew," he squeaked.

"Do you want to sit with us, Peter?" Remus said and Peter's face lit up excitedly.

"We'll get our things and invade your compartment," James said to me and Remus.

"Ok," I smiled.

"Come on, Pete," Remus said and helped Peter haul his trunk into our compartment. I ended up sitting next to the window, Sirius between me and James, while Remus and Peter sat opposite us. The drizzle outside turned into a downpour and the rest of the trip was spent talking to each other or, in James and Sirius' case, cracking loud and dirty jokes.

"Please! Stop!" I begged eventually. "How do you even know zose? Vous êtes âgé de onze ans! You are - what do zey say? - freaking eleven!" James and Sirius smirked as Remus' face turned pink and he buried himself back in his book, and Peter had a grin on his face.

"We have our ways," James smirked and then grew serious. "You know what?" We looked at him quizzically.

"What is it?" I said after a few moments.

"I reckon that we were destined to meet each other," James said. "I think we're here together for a reason and that we're meant to be the best of friends. Who's with me?" He held his hand out, palm down.

"I am," Sirius said instantly.

"Same here," Peter nodded, thrusting his hand out. Remus hesitated and I noticed his face twisting, before he put his hand in as well.

"I do not know," I said hesitantly. "What would Lily say? She might not like me being friends with you, especially James, and I do not want to lose 'er as a friend!"

"If she is your friend, she won't mind, Nic," Remus said and, looking into his sincere amber eyes, I made my decision and put my hand in with the other four.

"So it's settled," Sirius grinned. "Henceforth, we shall be the best of friends and the best of troublemakers!" James beamed, I smiled hesitantly and Remus and Peter looked alarmed.

"I can't cause trouble to save my life!" Remus protested.

"Neizer can I!" I said and James looked offended.

"But it's never too late to start!" he said. "Especially with us two!" He gestured to himself and Sirius.

"Don't worry, I don't mind!" Sirius announced as if he had done a heroic deed, slinging his arm around my shoulders. I turned pink and pushed it off.

"How deed I end up being ze only girl in zis group of boys?" I moaned.

"You should count yourself lucky! We're the hottest group of boys around!" James boasted and Peter laughed as Remus' face turned pinkish-red. I pretended to think.

"Non, you are alright," I shrugged and James pouted. "Remus ees definitely 'ot –" Remus's face went darker so that it was bright red "- Peter, you are pretty good-looking –" Peter went red as he beamed at me "- but I would 'ave to say zat Sirius is ze 'ottest one 'ere right now." I did not feel ashamed because I knew I would not fall for him and if I did, it would be on personality. I have seen so many hot boys in my life that I do not care for looks, although they do help.

"I knew you were my favourite friend, Nicki!" Sirius grinned, slinging his arm around my shoulders again. I tried to push it off but Sirius was ready and it merely tightened.

"Sirius Black, get your arm off me right now!" I said, bucking my shoulders. He just grinned in response.

"Hi, Nicole!" I looked at the compartment door to see Lily Evans standing there, completely ignoring the four boys. Upon seeing her, Sirius let go of me.

"Salut, Lily," I smiled. "Are you feeling any better?"

"Loads," she said. "Anyway, I thought I'd better tell you that we're going to be at Hogwarts soon, so you'd better change."

"Merci. Thank you."

"Hi, Evans!" James said, ruffling his hair. Lily gave him a look of deep disgust and turned back to me.

"See you there, Nic!" She shut the door and walked off.

"She's hot," James said dreamily and I hit him up the head.

"James, if you want to eempress a girl, I do not suggest acting like an eediot, which means zat you really do not have a chance, seeing as zat ees your normal attitude," I said and Peter and Sirius roared with laughter, Remus grinned and James' face fell.

"You must help me win her heart!" he begged, falling onto the floor on his knees and seizing my hands. "Please, Lady Nicki! Tell me that you'll help me in this noble quest!"

"Go away, Sir Eediot," I snorted and the laughter increased. "Now, all of you, out."

"Why?" Peter said.

"Did you not 'ear Lily?" I said with a raised eyebrow. "I 'ave to change. Out." I jerked my thumb at the door and James, Remus and Peter instantly left.

"What?" I said to Sirius.

"Can't I watch?" he pleaded. "I like girls with a nice figure!" I glared and shoved him out so hard that he pushed James over when he crashed into him. I shut the door, pulled the blinds down and changed into my robes, before exiting and pushing the boys back in.

"We're dressed!" James called out. I did not like the way he said it but I entered anyway and let out a shriek. I should have known that English boys couldn't be trusted! Sirius didn't have a shirt on yet and his bare chest was showing, making my cheeks burn red.

"Mon dieu! Get some clothes on!" I yelled, covering my face. "I 'ave to get out of 'ere!" I bolted out of the compartment and ran up the train until I found Lily with a dark-haired girl.

"Nicole?" Lily said as I burst in and fell onto the seat opposite her and the girl.

"I – I –" I couldn't get my sentence out. "I saw somezing! Somezing 'or – _'orrible_!"

"What did you see?" the girl said instantly as I struggled to control my breathing and Lily moved to sit next to me.

"I saw Sirius Black! With no shirt!" I started hyperventilating and Lily patted my back sympathetically.

"There, there," she said soothingly as my breathing finally slowed. "It'll be ok."

"Sirius Black?" the girl said with an amused expression. "You mean that dark-haired hottie who saved you from getting hexed?" I nodded feverishly and she burst out laughing.

"That's Marlene McKinnon, by the way," Lily informed me as Marlene continued to laugh.

"Lucky you!" Marlene said as she finally managed to calm down.

"Non! Not lucky me!" I squeaked. "I am going to be scarred for life! Oh, and James fancies you, Lily," I added in an offhand voice to Lily, who looked like she was going to be sick.

"James Potter? That arrogant bastard?" I looked up as Severus Snape entered the compartment and glared at him.

"James ees my friend!" I said. "I cannot say zat I am proud of 'im for calling you Snivellus but 'e can be cool!" Severus' face twisted as Lily stared at me incredulously.

"So, you're friends with Sirius?" Marlene asked me excitedly.

"Oui," I answered and then shivered. "'E put 'is arm around me!" Lily hugged me sympathetically as Severus smirked and Marlene sighed longingly. A voice suddenly echoed over the train:

"_We will be arriving at Hogwarts in five minutes' time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be collected for you."_

"Mon dieu! We are nearly zere!" I squealed, bouncing up and down in excitement. "I am going to find ze boys!" I exited the compartment and trudged back to the four boys, where James and Sirius were playing a game of Exploding Snap, Peter was watching and Remus was still reading.

"And the goddess returns!" Sirius announced in a deep voice, making me glare at him. I still had not forgiven him for that trick!

"Where've you been?" Remus asked kindly, looking at me over the top of his book.

"Seeting with Lily and Marlene McKinnon," I shrugged, collapsing next to him. "Oh and Severus."

"Snivelly?" James said with a disgusted expression. I reached over and slapped his head.

"Well, 'e doesn't really have ze best impression of you eizer, you know," I said sharply and James shrugged before putting a card down. The pile exploded, leaving James with singed eyebrows.

"Nice look," I grinned as Sirius and Peter roared with laughter and Remus snorted. The train suddenly started slowing down.

"We're here!" Peter said happily, clapping his hands.

* * *

_**Translations:**_

_**- bébé fille - baby girl  
**__**- C'est incroyable! - This is amazing!  
**__**- Enfin! Il est grand temps! - Finally! It's about time!  
**__**- Mon dieu! - MyGod!  
**__**- C'est beau! - It's beautiful!  
**__**- s'il vous plaît - please  
- La dépendance au chocolat - chocolate addiction  
- Arrêter! - Stop!  
- Vous êtes âgé de onze ans! - You are eleven years old!  
- Salut - Hi**_

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	2. My Sorting

**A/N: I just want to clear something up now. There is going to be a character called Isabella here and the nickname Bella has NOTHING, I repeat NOTHING to do with Twilight and Bella Mary Sue Swan. Also, I am aware that Bella means 'beautiful' but that is not why I use it here: I have always liked it, only Twilight ruined it for me -_-**

**Thanks to Spottedmask12 and DeathByHanging for being my first two reviewers. You guys are epic and it was a lovely surprise to wake up to! :) No votes as of yet but I know where I want to go, it was just an experiment. So I'll take down the poll. The choices were Remus or Sirius and I'm actually more inclined towards Remus - I have other plans for Sirius. Muahahahahahaha! (coughs, chokes and dies) Sorry… **

**Disclaimer: I wish I owned Harry Potter. But unfortunately, I only own Nicole and Isabella, and the Sorting song which most likely sucks because when it comes to song-writing and rhyming, I suck royal Hippogriffs -_- **

James stowed the cards away as my stomach lurched with nerves.

"Let's go!" Sirius said and, grabbing my wrist, pulled me out of the compartment and to the doors.

"Now where?" Remus asked as he, James and Peter managed to catch up.

"Firs' years! All firs' years over here!" a voice called and Peter and I exchanged uneasy looks.

"Come on!" Sirius pulled me along and I tried to wrench my wrist out of his, this time with no success. I stepped out of the train and instantly felt like I'd hopped into a cool shower.

"Oh Merlin," Remus gasped as we saw a giant of a man calling us. "Who is _that_?"

"Do I look like I know?" I said but the five of us made our way over, along with all the other first years.

"Follow me!" the giant said once everyone was assembled. He led us down a steep path with trees on all sides.

"Yeh'll get yer first sight o' Hogwarts in a sec!" the giant said over his shoulder after a while and the narrow path opened out into a wide clearing on the shores of a glittering black lake.

"Mon dieu!" I gasped. "C'est incroyable! Zis ees amazing!"

"Isn't it?" Lily said softly in agreement from next to me. James winked at her but she either didn't see or just ignored him.

"Only four ter a boat!" the giant said and Lily immediately scrambled in with Marlene, a brunette girl and a black-haired girl.

"Looks like you're with us, sugar," Sirius said and pulled me into a boat with him, James and Remus.

"Superb," I muttered and then caught sight of Peter. "Peter, do you want my spot?" He nodded, so I got out and found a spot with two boys and a girl.

When we were all in the boats, the giant shouted, "Forward!" The boats instantly started to glide forwards and I looked at the twinkling lights on the shimmering water and sighed happily.

"Duck!" the giant said, snapping me out of my thoughts. I ducked my head and I saw that James and Sirius thought it would be funny to stand up and they fell out as a curtain of ivy got them in the face. As James went over, he grabbed the side of the boat, which made Peter and Remus fall out too.

"Look at that!" The girl burst out laughing, as did the boys, and I laughed too, despite feeling guilty.

When we arrived at the shore, I noticed that the boys were lagging, so I sought out Lily, Marlene and the two girls.

"Where are they?" Marlene asked.

"James and Sirius zought eet would be funny to not duck and zey fell eento the lake with Remus and Peter," I answered and Lily roared with laughter, even more so when they finally got here dripping wet.

"Well, you look like you fell in the lake too!" James said to us from under a giant coat with Sirius. "I honestly don't see the difference."

"Ze rain ees not freezing cold, ees eet?" I said and James shrugged.

"Everyone inside!" a sharp voice called and we looked up to see a black-haired witch, her hair in a bun.

"What happened to you?" she barked as we passed, noticing the coat.

"We fell in," Sirius grinned and took the coat off. "Thanks!" he added to the giant and tossed the coat back to him but it fell short. Not surprising, considering how big it was. He chuckled.

"Take care o' yerselves!" he said as he picked it up and trudged off. The witch's mouth was a thin line as she cast a spell on all of us and I felt like I'd just had one of Maman's hot chocolates. She shut the door behind us and I could hear talking behind a pair of large, golden doors, but the witch led us into a small chamber.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," she said. "I am Professor McGonagall, your Transfiguration teacher. The feast will begin soon but we must sort you into your houses first. The Sorting Ceremony is very important, as it decided what house you will be in. While at Hogwarts, your house will be like your family: you'll spend free time in your house common room, eat and sleep with your housemates and have classes with your house.

"The four houses are Gryffindor –" I smiled at James when she said this and he grinned back, "- Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin." Sirius made a face. "Each house has produced amazing witches and wizards and each has an outstanding and noble history. I hope you'll all be a credit to your houses." She gave us all stern looks and I shifted.

"Points will be awarded for achievements and taken for rule-breaking. Now, please wait here quietly while we prepare for you." She swept from the chamber and I breathed out.

"She'll be excellent to prank, won't she?" James whispered and I raised an eyebrow.

"Well, eet ees your own funeral," I shrugged.

"What's with you?" Sirius said. "Only hours ago you were fine with the idea of pranking!"

"No, you talked me eento it," I corrected. "And not 'er. She reminds me of my ancient great-aunt who ees old enough to be an ancient Egyptian." Remus hastily turned his laugh into a racking cough, Peter snorted and James and Sirius laughed as quietly as they could. Lily suddenly let out a small scream and I turned to see a whole group of ghosts fly through a wall. They seemed to be arguing about someone named Peeves and one ghost wearing tights noticed us because he jumped.

"What are you all doing here?" he asked, his head wobbling. None of us answered.

"New students!" a fat ghost smiled at us. "I suppose you're all about to be Sorted?" I nodded, along with Lily and the black-haired girl that Lily had ridden with in the boat.

"I hope to see you in Gryffindor!" the ghost with tights said. "That was my old house!"

"I look forward to you new Hufflepuffs!" the fat ghost said cheerfully, waving at us.

"Move along now, the Sorting Ceremony's going to start," a voice said and the ghosts flew out as McGonagall returned. "Now, please get into line and follow me." I got in line behind Sirius, with Lily behind me, and McGonagall led us out of the chamber and through the doors.

"Oh my God!" Lily said quietly and I had to agree. The ceiling looked exactly like the night sky outside (which was stormy), there were candles floating everywhere and four long tables filled with students, with a fifth up the front seating the teachers. McGonagall was putting a stool down up the front with a ragged, pointed hat that reminded me of my cousin, Olivier; he was a pig, put it that way. I noticed that everyone was quiet and was staring at the hat, so I did too. A slit near the bottom opened and the hat began to sing:

_I may not look like much but, as you can see,_

_Looks don't matter when it comes to me,_

_My purpose here is to sort you,_

_And I'm afraid that is what I must now do,_

_So step on up and I will tell you,_

_Which house you ought to go to,_

_It might be Gryffindor, for the noble and the brave,_

_You can be sure that those Gryffindors will never cave,_

_Or maybe in Hufflepuff, where loyalty is abound,_

_For a great future, those Hufflepuffs are bound,_

_Or even in Ravenclaw, the house of wits and smarts,_

_Each Ravenclaw is unique, and clever at heart,_

_Or possibly to cunning Slytherin you could go,_

_No ambitious Slytherin will ever fall low,_

_So try me on and I will tell you where you ought to be,_

_Don't be afraid; the decision rests with me!"_

As the students started to clap, nervousness took hold in me. What if I wasn't Sorted into Gryffindor? My auntie had been a Gryffindor and my What if I ended up in Slytherin? Would my parents hate me? Would James, Sirius, Remus and Peter stop calling me their friend? Well, at least there was Severus…I dimly registered that McGonagall had a scroll of parchment and was reading out names, while the respective students sat on the stool and the hat called out their names.

"Ainsworth, Hayley!" The girl I had shared the boat with went up and was made a Hufflepuff.

"Black, Sirius!" I heard and Sirius clapped my shoulder before walking up and putting the hat on. There was a moment of silence and I saw Sirius' mouth move as if he was arguing or talking with the hat, before -

"GRYFFINDOR!" I smiled weakly as Sirius made his way over to the cheering, red-and-gold clad table and I kept sending reassuring smiles to Lily as the group thinned; she'd be the next of my new friends to be Sorted.

"Evans, Lily!" Lily nervously slid up to the stool and the hat was lowered on her dark red hair. I saw Severus' hopeful-looking face, which fell as the hat shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!" She smiled sadly at him as she stumbled to the Gryffindor table and Sirius moved up to make room for her. She took one look at him, turned and crossed her arms and Sirius turned to me, shrugged and gave me a 'What's her problem?' look. I raised an eyebrow at him as yet more people were Sorted.

"Hart, Isabella!" The back-haired girl who had shared the boat with Lily slowly walked up, shaking nervously.

"GRYFFINDOR!" She headed for the Gryffindor table, a wide grin on her face, and Lily smiled and patted her on the back.

"Ibbott, Carl!" Carl Ibbott was one of the boys that had been in the boat with me too and he went to Ravenclaw.

"Longbottom, Frank!" A boy with brown hair tried to walk confidently up but failed, though he was put in Gryffindor.

"Lupin, Remus!" Remus gave a start and I pushed him up, hissing "Save me a seat!" He shrugged as he walked up.

"GRYFFINDOR!" He power-walked to the Gryffindor table and sank opposite Sirius. I gave a start when the next name was mentioned.

"Martin, Nicole!"

"Oh no! Mon dieu!" I whispered.

"You can do it!" Marlene punched my arm, which I thought was a pretty strange way of encouraging me.

"Go on up there and become a proud Gryffindor!" James said but that just made me more nervous. At the encouraging looks from Marlene, Lily, James, Sirius, Remus and Peter, I forced myself up to the stool. McGonagall lowered the hat on my head and my vision went black.

"French, hmm?" a small voice said in my ear. "I remember Sorting your aunt, you know. She was as nervous as you were."

_Really? _I thought.

"Oh, yes. But now to Sorting you. There is definitely some intelligence here, and some bravery, and you're loyal to those you want to be. I see that the right house for you is…GRYFFINDOR!" I took the hat off and staggered to the cheering Gryffindor table as Sirius moved down to make a seat for me. I sat between him and Lily, who smiled and clapped my shoulder. Isabella Hart smiled hesitantly at me.

"I never want to do zat again," I said weakly as the next person was Sorted into Hufflepuff.

"Buck up!" Sirius said loudly. "You made it here, now be brave!" I smiled at him

"McKinnon, Marlene!" Marlene smiled nervously at me and I beamed back.

"GRYFFINDOR!" She gave me the thumbs up as she sat next to Lily and punched my arm again.

"Why do you do zat?" I said.

"Pettigrew, Peter!" Peter squeaked and made to duck to the floor and hide but James dragged him up and pushed him towards the hat.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Punch your arm?" Marlene said and I nodded. "I do it to all my friends. It's how I encourage them, spur them on, yadda yadda yadda."

"You Eenglish are very weird," I said.

"Potter, James!" James blinked and strode to the hat, not displaying any outward signs of fear.

"GRYFFINDOR!" James grinned as he sort of half-strutted over to the table and Lily threw him a look of deep disgust.

"Rogers, Vincent!" This was the other boy who had been in the boat and he joined Hayley Ainsworth in Hufflepuff.

The Sorting progressed until McGonagall called "Snape, Severus!" Severus walked weakly up and slid the hat on.

"SLYTHERIN!" He took it off and I noticed Lily give him a sad smile as he walked to the Slytherin table and shook Lucius Malfoy's hand. Lucius noticed me staring and he sneered at me, making me bare my teeth.

A few more people later, the last person made it into Ravenclaw and Professor McGonagall rolled up the parchment and took the hat and stool away. I saw a man with a long white beard stand up and I recognised him as Albus Dumbledore, from what my papa had told me. He called for silence and spread his arms wide, as if his greatest pleasure was to see us all here.

"To our older students, welcome to another year here! To our new students, welcome! There is a time for talking and a time for eating, and I believe that this is the time for eating!" As he sat down, my mouth fell open. The previously empty golden dishes were full of different kinds of food: lamb chops, pork chops, roast chicken, roast beef, steaks, bacon, sausages, chips, potatoes, vegetables…well, you get it.

"Wow!" Sirius said in a sort of strangled voice. I looked at him and saw that he was piling his plate with nearly everything.

"'Ow are you going to eat all of zat?" I said incredulously. Sirius shrugged, his mouth full of steak.

"Foo's grea'!" he said with his mouth full and I looked revolted.

"Chew with your mouth shut!" Remus said from across him and I beamed at him.

"Why? He's righ', foo' awesome!" Marlene said and I wrinkled my nose.

"Marlene! I thought you were cool!" Lily wailed and Marlene smirked as well as you can smirk with a mouth full of food. Isabella started giggling, as did the brunette next to her, the one that had joined her, Lily and Marlene in the boat.

"I'm Alice Lewis," she told us, shaking our hands. We all introduced ourselves and the conversations descended into talking about ourselves.

When we'd finished eating, the food disappeared and was replaced with all different kinds of desserts.

"Mon dieu! Jam doughnuts!" I said excitedly and snatched at the plate.

"Someone likes jam doughnuts a lot," James smirked as I scoffed one.

"Be quiet," I glared.

When the desserts had vanished, Dumbledore got to his feet.

"There are a few announcements I'd like to make," he said. "Firstly, the forest in the ground is forbidden, as some of our older students should know." I saw his blue eyes sparkle in the direction of a pair of redheaded twins, who grinned cheekily.

"Mr Filch has also asked me to remind you that magic is forbidden in the corridors and if you wish to know about more rules, please visit him in his office.

"Quidditch trials will take place in the second week of term. If you are interested in playing for your team, contact Madam Hooch to put your name down."

"I'm trying out next year!" James vowed, his hazel eyes sparkling.

"I'd also like to introduce our new Defence Against the Dark Arts professor, Professor Blackrose." An intimidating-looking woman with long black hair stood up and then sat back down.

"She's the sixth I've had!" a boy with brown hair whispered.

"And what year are you in?" James said.

"Sixth," the boy sighed. "We go through them every year, we're positive there's a curse on the job."

"That doesn't sound good!" Isabella said in alarm.

"Trust me, by the end of the year, Blackrose'll be gone," the girl next to him said seriously. "She'll have quit, or died, or been severely injured, or something else would have happened. I'll bet you a hundred Galleons, that's how sure I am."

"I don't think I'll take you up on that," Lily said weakly as Peter looked positively frightened and my mouth dropped.

"Goodnight, all!" Dumbledore called.

"Now where do we go?" I said as we all stood up. My question was answered in a few seconds.

"First year Gryffindors, over here!" a boy called and we waded through the sea of people to get to the source of the voice.

"All you first years here?" the girl standing next to him asked. "Great! Follow us!" We trudged out of the Great Hall and up staircases. I was too tired to admire the fact that they moved, or the tapestries, or really anything.

"Ok, this is the entrance to the Gryffindor common room," the boy said as we stopped at the portrait of a very fat lady. "Our password is Hippogriff."

"Correct!" the lady trilled and her portrait swung forwards to admit us.

"It's gorgeous!" Isabella sighed as we climbed in and I had to agree with her. The room was crimson all over, with scarlet and gold hangings, little red armchairs and couches and a huge fireplace.

"Boys, your dormitory's up the stairs and to the right, girls, yours is to the left," the girl said and we all made our way to the staircase.

"Well, say hello to our new home for the next seven years," Sirius sighed with a grin as we ascended the stairs. "At last, I'm away from my dear mother."

"You talk about 'er like she ees a chienne," I said dryly. "A female dog," I added when he looked at me and he snorted.

"Trust me, she makes bitches look like sweet angels," he said darkly.

"Zat bad?" I said and he shrugged.

"Well, anyway…night," he said and ducked through the open door.

"Oui, bonsoir," I said softly and I turned and entered the door opposite.

**Ok, now these will just be little chapters throughout their school years, as I'm too lazy and unimaginative to actually come up with an elaborate seven-story plot -_-**

**I mean, I've already got chapter 3 written, which skips a year, and I'm about to write chapter 4.**

**Anyway, you know what'd make my day?**

**Yeah. That.**

**Maybe a little word or so in the box below would make me feel good. **

**Come on. You know you want to :)**


	3. Werewolf Buddy

**A/N: Ok, this is skipping a year, all the way to November in their second year. I mean, what could possibly happen to them in seven years? Harry had Voldemort after him but I highly doubt that would happen here…Nicole can't have done anything to make Voldemort target her and if she did, I'd be worried about a Mary Sue reading.**

**I am fairly disappointed, though. According to the site, I have forty one views on this story. FORTY ONE! And only FOUR reviews! Now, I'm not one to beg, but PLEASE, be reasonable! I won't be one of those 'I-want-a-certain-number-of-reviews-otherwise-no-updates' people but come on!**

**And DeathByHanging and Guest, you really are epic. You don't know how good that review made me feel, DeathByHanging :) And you too, Guest, you both made my day! (night, whatever…). **

**Disclaimer: Do I have long blonde hair? Am I British? No, I have dark hair and I'm Australian. Therefore, I don't own Harry Potter. Le sigh…**

* * *

"Come on, wake up, Nicki!" a voice shouted. I moaned and turned over but the owner of the voice ripped off my blanket and I shot up with a shriek.

"Mon dieu! Où est ma couverture? Where ees my blanket?" I babbled. I then heard four people burst into laughter and I glared sleepily at Lily, Marlene, Alice and Isabella or, as we have taken to calling her, Bella.

"What deed you do zat for?" I scowled as I slid out of bed.

"If you don't get up, you'll miss breakfast!" Bella said brightly. Bella had been very shy in our first year but now she was more open and fun around me, Alice, Lily and Marlene.

"Whatever. I am going to 'ave a shower," I scowled and I grumpily made my way into the bathroom and shut the door.

The warm water managed to fully wake me up and I started thinking about my friends. James, Sirius, Peter and Remus had been my first friends and they played plenty of pranks, though James and Sirius were mostly the masterminds, Remus and I were the reluctant tag-alongs and Peter was the follower.

And then there was Lily, Alice, Marlene and Bella. We five girls were the best of friends; we told each other everything and did everything together, though Lily disapproved of any prank I helped with, no matter how minor a part I played. However, Remus was right; she still liked me and wanted to be my friend, prankster or no prankster.

After dressing and brushing my hair, I left the bathroom and, seeing that Lily, Alice, Bella and Marlene had been such good friends and ditched me for food, I went down to the Great Hall alone.

"Morning, sunshine," Sirius grinned when I sat down opposite him.

"Good morning," I greeted, pulling a plate of toast towards me.

"Nicole! We saved you a seat!" Marlene called from a little way up the table.

"You ditched me for food, so I would prefer to seet with ze boys," I replied and James and Sirius laughed at the look on Marlene's face.

"Go out with me, Evans?" James said loudly. She just shot him a look and ignored him.

"So, who's up for sneaking around tonight?" Sirius said after a moment.

"Me," James replied instantly.

"And me!" Peter added. I bit my lip, thinking.

"I guess…" I said slowly. "Remus?"

"Oh, I can't - my mother's really sick and I have to visit her tonight," Remus said.

"Remus, your muzzer was really sick last year," I pointed out. "And een June. And een September."

"She's really sick again!"

"Your mother sure gets sick a lot," Sirius noted.

"Well, my aunt died and I need to attend her funeral!"

"The same aunt who died last month?" James said dryly.

"I-I-I have to go!" Remus stood up and positively bolted from the hall.

"Well, what was zat about?" I said in confusion.

"I don't know," James frowned. "But I know how to find out!" Sirius, Peter and I looked at him.

"How?" Peter asked.

"We'll follow him tonight under the Invisibility Cloak!"

"This has to be one of the worst plans we've ever had," Sirius said. "Let's do it." Peter snorted, making juice squirt out of his nose.

"Eww! C'est dégoûtant! Zat ees deesgusting!" I stood up and hurried over to Lily, Marlene, Alice and Bella; I'll take girls who ditch me over disgusting boys any day.

"What brings you here?" Alice said, her eyebrows raised.

"Zose boys are deesgusting!" I said, pulling some toast towards me.

"Glad to have you back, Nic," Bella smiled.

"Come on, let's get to Charms," Lily urged.

"Wait, I am eating," I said, cramming the toast into my mouth in a very unladylike manner. "Ok, let's go." I was getting better at the contractions, like don't and let's, though I did slip up sometimes.

In Charms, once Professor Flitwick told us what to do, James leaned in to talk to me (of course, he had to sit next to me).

"We'll wait in the common room until Remus goes and we'll follow him," he told me.

"I don't know about zis," I said. "I mean, Remus obviously does not want us to know where he goes, so eet must be an important secret, must it not?"

"Well, he should tell us, no matter what," James said. "We're his friends, aren't we?" I bit my lip for the second time that morning, an internal battle raging inside me. On the one hand, Remus deserved his privacy and we had no right to pry into his business. On the other hand, if it was a terrible secret he was trying to keep, why wouldn't he tell us? My curiosity won out against my sense of right.

"Ok zen, I will do zis," I sighed in resignation. James flashed me a wide smile and went back to his work.

After Charms, we had Herbology, one of my best subjects. I was best at Herbology, followed by Defence Against the Dark Arts and Potions. I was alright at Transfiguration and Charms and I failed at History of Magic. I had been very upset about this at the end of my first year, until Auntie Julie reassured me.

"It's ok, chouette chevêche," she had said, using the pet name that all my aunts and uncles called me - it meant little owl, since owls were my favourite animals. "Hardly anyone passes that subject. I certainly didn't!" After that, I felt a lot better.

"Good morning, class!" Professor Sprout said once we Gryffindors and the Hufflepuffs were inside Greenhouse Three. After murmurings of 'good morning, Professor Sprout,' she got straight into it.

"Right, today we'll be repotting Mandrakes," Professor Sprout said. "Can anyone tell me what Mandrakes do?" My hand was just beaten by Lily's, who nearly punched Marlene in the face.

"Mandragora, or as they are more commonly known, Mandrakes, have the ability to undo any curse and restore a cursed or Petrified victim to their original state," she said confidently. Professor Sprout beamed.

"Excellent answer, Miss Evans, take ten points for Gryffindor! Now, it is very important that you handle Mandrakes very carefully, as they are quite dangerous. Why?" My hand managed to beat Lily's this time.

"Zey can kill anyone with zeir cries," I smiled. "But zey will only knock someone out eef zey are young."

"Nice work, Miss Martin. Another ten points to Gryffindor!" Lily looked a little annoyed that I had answered a question and I shot her an apologetic smile.

"Right, everyone come and take a pair of earmuffs and put them on. Make sure that they block out sound completely! These Mandrakes here are very young so, as Miss Martin said, they will only knock you out for a few hours." There was a mad scramble as everyone fought to claim a pair of earmuffs that weren't pink.

"Animals," I muttered, picking up a fluffy pink pair. To my surprise, Lily had joined in the fray.

"What?" she said when I looked at her. "Pink clashes horribly with my hair!" I snorted and heard a shout of laughter.

"Ha! Bad luck, Pete!" Sirius cackled and when I looked at him, I saw that poor Peter had a pair of pink earmuffs.

"That is a serious loss of your virility, mate," James guffawed, clapping Peter on the back.

"Four to a tray!" Professor Sprout called. "I'll get your attention when it's pack-up time! Now, let's go!"

"You four can go together, I'll find someone else," I told the girls, who nodded and snapped their earmuffs on. I spied Hayley Ainsworth and Vincent Rogers together at a tray. I had not really spoken to them since the Sorting but now was as good a time as any.

"May I join you two?" I asked politely, walking up to them. Hayley looked up and smiled.

"Of course!" I returned the smile just as another guy approached.

"Amos Diggory," he said pompously, holding out his hand. I hesitantly shook it. "I already know Hayley and Vincent, of course. You're Nicole Martin, aren't you? The French girl." I frowned and nodded before putting my earmuffs on so that I would not have to listen to him go on about himself, although I was a little used to it by now; there were a lot of them in France and Sirius himself was a little bit of a bragger.

"Aller, vous petit démon!" I muttered, trying to push a difficult Mandrake into the soil. "Go in, you leetle demon!"

After Hayley, Vincent, Diggory and I successfully repotted three Mandrakes, it was time to pack up and we all returned to the castle to wash up quickly before heading to lunch.

"What'd you think of that Amos Diggory guy?" Sirius said to me over lunch.

"'E ees a pompous, stuck-up jerk," I said, making James and Sirius laugh. "'E referred to me as 'ze French girl'!"

"Aww, poor Nicki," Sirius cooed, making me flick mashed potato into his hair and he squealed. "My hair! This takes time to perfect, you know! You ruined my perfect hair!" He leapt up and ran out of the hall, leaving me to gape at him.

"Even ze boys back in France are not zis vain!" I finally managed to say.

"That's Sirius for you," Remus snorted. Hearing him talk made me feel guilty about tonight again but still…

After Double Defence, I ate a light dinner, nervous about what we were going to do tonight. What if Remus had some awful secret and we were breaking his trust by doing this? Would he ever forgive us?

I fidgeted nervously in the common room that night and shook off Lily, Marlene, Alice and Bella's questions with an, "I am fine, mon amis."

"I have to go," Remus said to us a few hours later. "You know - to visit my sick mum and all." He bolted out of the common room.

"You'd think he'd try another excuse, wouldn't you?" Peter frowned.

"Oui, 'e ees a terrible liar," I nodded.

"Come on, you three!" James said, holding out the silvery Invisibility Cloak; he'd brought it down so that we would not waste unnecessary time fetching it.

"I 'ave a bad feeling about zis," I said but ducked under it with him anyway, Sirius and Peter following. We carefully left the common room and ran along the corridor until we spotted Remus, where we slowed down and followed quietly. Once or twice, he'd stop and frown but continued walking a moment later.

"Why's he going to the hospital wing?" Peter said as Remus looked around behind him before knocking on the door.

"Be quiet and we'll find out!" Sirius hissed. Peter looked a little hurt but complied. A moment later, Madam Pomfrey came out of the wing.

"Ok, let's go, Mr Lupin dear," she said kindly and the two of them set off, James, Sirius, Peter and I following behind them. They led us all the way down to the Entrance Hall and out into the grounds.

"Why the bloody hell are they going to the Whomping Willow?" Sirius muttered.

"Just come on!" James said and we hurried to keep up with them, stopping when they did just outside the range of the tree branches. As we watched, Madam Pomfrey levitated a tree branch and jabbed at a knot with it, causing the tree to freeze.

"That's how you do it!" James said in a voice of suppressed triumph.

"Eenteresting…" I mused.

"Come on, we'll lose them!" Peter squeaked and so we hurried to the base and took off the Cloak.

"Ladies first," Sirius grinned.

"Age before beauty," I retorted and he stuck his tongue out at me before descending down into the roots, followed by James, me and Peter. Once down there, we returned to sneaking with the Cloak and at the end of the tunnel, we saw a big room and a staircase. Madam Pomfrey was fussing over Remus, who looked uncomfortable.

"Now dear, are you sure you'll be ok?" she said.

"Madam Pomfrey, I've done this plenty of times before," Remus said patiently. "I'll be fine. You just get out of here."

"I'll be back for you in the morning," the nurse said and she bustled past us and into the tunnel. Remus sank down into a chair, looking utterly miserable.

"Where's your sick mum? I don't see her anywhere," Sirius said, taking the Invisibility Cloak off us. Remus jumped violently and stared at us like we were ghosts.

"No!" he said hoarsely. "You three can't be here! Go!"

"And why can we not be 'ere?" I said curiously, studying how scared he looked.

"I'm serious, go!" he begged. "Please! You'll all be killed!"

"But why -" Peter was cut off as Remus suddenly went very rigid and then began to shake.

"What ees 'appening?" I shrieked as our friend's nose grew longer and he started to sprout fur.

"Run for it!" James cried and Sirius seized my wrist and pulled me towards the tunnel, just as Remus finished transforming into a -

"Werewolf!" Peter screamed. "He's a werewolf! We have to get out of here!" The four of us positively fled to the tunnel and dove into it, just in time. The werewolf's jaws snapped at my ankle as I pushed myself up and bolted down the tunnel with the boys. Once we reached the end, the werewolf's howls resonating behind us, we crawled out and sprinted out of reach of the Whomping Willow, before collapsing in the grass, panting.

"Merlin - Remus - werewolf," Sirius coughed.

"Come - on," James wheezed. We all ducked under the Cloak and didn't say another word until we'd reached the Gryffindor common room, where we went up to the boys' dormitory to get away from the people still in the common room. Frank Longbottom was still down there, thankfully, so there was no one to overhear us.

"I can't believe that Remus is a werewolf!" Peter said in a high-pitched voice. "Why didn't he tell us?"

"He was scared we'd reject him," James said. "Werewolves aren't very well-liked but it's a fat lot of rubbish. I'm with Remus no matter what he is!"

"Me too!" Sirius nodded fiercely.

"Same here!" Peter said and the boys looked at me.

"Nicole?" they said. My head was a mess.

"Well…" I said. "I 'ave 'eard zat werewolves are 'orrible creatures and -"

"And what?" James glared. "You're just going to ditch Remus because of the prejudice that most wizards have?"

"Non!" I said. "I am merely trying to come to terms with zis!"

"Well, you'd better come to terms fast," Sirius glared. "How can you think that _Remus_ is dangerous? He's just a rabid animal once a month but any other time, he's Remus!" I knew he was right and I felt ashamed for ever doubting Remus. He couldn't help being a werewolf!

"Oui, you are right," I said. "I am sorry for ever theenking zat Remus could be a monster."

"Well, as long as you don't think it anymore, no harm done!" Peter said brightly. "Right?"

"That's right, Pete," James grinned.

"I am going to bed," I announced suddenly. "I am not looking forward to seeing Remus' face tomorrow morning when we tell him zat we know."

My feelings were correct.

"You know, don't you?" Remus said gloomily the next morning. Lily had woken me up and told me that the boys wanted to speak to me, so we were currently missing breakfast while we tried to reassure Remus that we did not hate him.

"Yep," Sirius nodded.

"I bet you hate me, don't you?"

"Hate you? Why would we hate you?" James said. Remus stared at him in confusion.

"I'm a monster! Who would ever want to be friends with me?" I shifted guiltily, remembering last night. I knew that we did not have to tell Remus, as it was in the past, but it did not stop me from feeling bad.

"We do," Peter said. James, Sirius and I nodded.

"You - you do?" Remus said in a stunned voice. We nodded.

"Remus, you could be a vampire-troll-werewolf hybrid and we would steel love you!" I declared. "Nous serons toujours amis, peu importe quoi! We weel always be friends, no matter what!" Remus looked dazed.

"What can we do to help?" Sirius asked.

"Nothing," Remus murmured. "Werewolves aren't a danger to animals, only humans."

"Is there a way to turn into animals?" Peter piped up.

"Of course there is, didn't you see McGonagall turn into that cat in our first class with her?" James said. "What're they called?"

"Animagi," I replied. "Lily and I read about zem in some book, zough it only said what zey were and briefly summarised zem."

"You know what this means, don't you?" James said excitedly, his hazel eyes sparkling.

"What?" Sirius, Peter, Remus and I said in unison. James grinned mischievously.

"We become Animagi."

* * *

_**Translations:**_

_**- Où est ma couverture? - Where is my blanket?  
- Aller, vous petit d**__**é**__**mon! - This is an interesting one. It apparently means 'go in, you little demon!' but aller means go; there is no word for 'in' in here, so it technically translates to 'go, you little demon!' French is really interesting!  
- mon amis - my friends**_

* * *

**Ok, next chapter will just skip to Christmas, still in this year, and then there will be massive time leaps within the chapter to complete second year.**

**Cookies for anyone who actually reads the author's notes! Double cookies if you spotted the My Immortal reference in here! And triple cookies if you review! **

**Like I said before, forty one views and only four reviews? Does that sound unfair to anyone else?**


	4. The New Addition to the Family

**A/N: Review responses! DeathByHanging, you seriously are the best reviewer I could ever ask for!**

**Thank you, Sent by another :) Yes, I prefer to do research before writing and it was actually easier because I learn French (so I know all the rules…like where to use mon and ma and stuff like that)…I would never leave a story out in the rain! Hmm, I think I know who you are…Mana might have mentioned you…so thanks if you're who I think you are - Mira, right?**

**And thank you too, HornyCorny! Nicole was just messing around with James' looks, don't worry ;) And I'd NEVER create a Mary Sue! I've read far too many Mary Sue fics to know how NOT to write one! And I'm glad you learned something - French is actually quite a common language, so it's handy to know! And I'm all for humour! Hmm, did you know that my friend and I got into trouble once at school for looking up French swear words on my phone? Being Aussie is awesome, I don't know why you don't like it!**

**And also, thanks to CaptainMeghanSparrow for actually pointing out something that might be costing me reviews: she thinks that James and Sirius are too flirty and shouldn't know so much about females. Is this the problem? Although any flirting towards Nicki by James and Sirius is purely friendly, not romantic - they're just teasing her. But a big thanks to CaptainMeghanSparrow for her help!**

**Disclaimer: Don't own. Why must you torture me?**

* * *

Christmas this year was different than last year. Maman and Papa wanted to spend Christmas together alone (though they did say that they had a surprise for me) and all my other relatives were in France, so I had to stay at Hogwarts. I didn't mind, though; Bella was staying to keep my company and so were the boys.

"Why are you not going 'ome?" I asked them when they announced to me that they were staying. In reply, they simply winked at me and I smiled to myself. Of course. We had our Animagus transformations to work on!

Remus and I had warned the other three that it was illegal for people under seventeen to attempt the transformation but it was like talking to, well…a boy. They were so excited that I ended up giving in in the end, thinking about how cool it would be to be able to transform. Being the little co-teacher's pet that I am (Lily and Remus shared the title with me), it was fairly easy to persuade Madam Pince to let me borrow a book on the theory of Animagi.

"Eet ees only for research, Madam Pince!" I told her. "I 'eard from someone zat we study zem next year and I want to be ahead!" Later that night, we flipped through the book and found what we were looking for.

"Here it is!" Remus said, pointing at a page.

"So, what've we got to do?" James asked. Remus and I gave him a 'seriously-do-you-not-read' expression and turned back to the book that was perched on our laps, meaning that we were sitting side-by-side on the bed.

"Ok, I know zat you boys sont stupides," I said and even though they did not speak French, I knew that they got the gist of what I said because they exclaimed, "Hey!"

"It's true," Remus grinned.

"You traitor!" Sirius pouted, clutching at his heart. I chuckled and continued to speak.

"So I will simplify zis for you. Apparently, we 'ave to meditate until we find our inner animal and zen we clear our minds and focus only on ze animal and say ze incantation over and again in our 'eads."

"What's the incantation?" Peter asked. I squinted at the page and replied, "_Animalis Veneficus_. And zen to transform back, we say _Humana Veneficus_."

"Ok, that sounds simple enough," James said. I snorted.

"James, zere ees a reason why eet ees difficult to accomplish," I said. "Eef eet was really zat easy, everyone would be Animagi." James gulped and Remus and I exchanged smirks.

-NM-

I was right; a week later, it was Christmas Day and we still had not managed to find our inner animals, though I reported that I was not on the ground. James said that he was in a forest, Peter felt very small and Sirius just said that he smelt like an animal, which was not really new.

"Wake up, Nicki!" Bella cried. "It's Christmas!" Normally, I would have killed her for daring to wake me up any earlier than nine on a non-school day but Christmas was the exception. When I sat up, I saw a large pile of presents at the end of my bed; one of the perks of your mother having four siblings.

Our family was so big that each couple and their children all pitched in to buy a present for two children, since it would be far too expensive to get everyone something - this year, from what I could see, I had gotten a present from Tante Marie, Oncle Alain and Pauline, Rosalie and Luc. When I shifted to the end of the bed and sifted through my presents, I saw that I had also been given something from my Oncle Pierre and Tante Apolline Delacour. Knowing Tante Apolline, it would probably be a whole heap of new clothes and make-up.

I was not blood-related to Tante Apolline - Oncle Pierre was my mother's brother and that meant that if they decided to have children, the children would be the only cousins of mine to be part-Veela, since Tante Apolline was a half-Veela. Unfortunately, since I was the second oldest out of my cousins and she had no children, Tante Apolline had made it her mission in life to make me as fashionable as possible, since she had failed with my oldest girl cousin, Sacha Moreau.

Sure enough, when I ripped the paper off, I had a whole box of pretty new shirts and skirts, along with a new book from Oncle Pierre. The Cléments had gotten me a pretty golden chain with an amethyst (my birthstone), the Marauders had given me prank products, Alice a glittery silver headband, Marlene some sweets, Lily a pair of amethyst earrings and from Bella, I received a silver photo frame with a picture of us five girls, laughing with our arms linked.

"Thanks, Bella!" I said happily, putting the photo up on my bedside table. Bella beamed happily back as she clipped on the silver bracelet I got her.

Finally, I opened my present from Maman and Papa, which was a deep purple notebook and white quill. I beamed happily; I loved drawing, not that I was any good at it. I was terrible at drawing bodies and I always made the lips and eyes look weird but I still loved to do it. I opened the notebook and picked up a photo and piece of parchment that were stashed in them. I looked at the photo and froze, my mouth agape.

"Nicole? Nic? Nicki? Hellooooo? Are you home?" Bella waved a hand in front of my face but it barely registered. "What's up, Nic?"

"Maman," I murmured, my lips barely moving. Before Bella could ask what I was so shocked about, we heard the Marauders calling for me.

"Nicole! Get down here!" I snapped out of my reverie and slowly crossed the dormitory and descended the staircase, the photo and parchment clutched tightly in my hand.

"Nicki! There you are! We were - what's up?" James, Sirius, Remus and Peter stared at me and I looked back at them blankly.

"Nicole! Just tell us what it is already!" Bella said impatiently from behind me, losing her otherwise barely existent temper.

"Maman est enceinte," I whispered.

"In English, please!" Sirius huffed.

"My muzzer ees pregnant," I said. There was a silence.

"P-Pregnant?" Peter stammered. I nodded.

"Oui." I held out the photo and the other five crowded around to see it. In it, my mother was beaming at the camera and, looking at her stomach, you could see that it was a little swollen.

"That's brilliant!" Remus smiled.

"Oui, I know," I said quietly. "I - I am just -"

"Shocked?" Bella grinned and I nodded and let them keep looking at the photo while I sat on a chair and unfolded the parchment. It was a letter from Maman:

_Mon ch__é__ri Nicole,_

_I am sure that you know by now, if you have looked at the photo, that I am pregnant. Your papa and I wanted it to be a coming-home surprise but I have found out that I have been pregnant since August and we are expecting in May. Just think of this as a late Christmas present: your own little brother or sister._

_Papa and I have already decided on names: Gabriel Antoine if it is a boy and Sophie Jacqueline for a girl. I hope you are happy with these names - if you are not, we will happily change them._

_Now comes the difficult part, mon chéri. I know that it will be tough having un petit frère or une petite soeur but know that I will always love you and you will always be ma b__é__b__é__ fille. I just ask that you be the best grande soeur that you can be. Je t'aime, Nicole, very much, and Papa loves you too._

_Joyeux No__ë__l et une Bonne et Ann__é__e,_

_Maman_

I smiled weakly as I folded up the parchment and Bella handed me back the photo, which I slipped into the folds of parchment. So I was going to be a big sister when I returned home. I still could not believe it; I knew I would have a younger brother or sister in my head but it still had not sunk in fully. I had been an only child for twelve, nearly thirteen years; what would it be like to have a sibling? What if I was not a good sister?

"You ok, Nic?" Remus asked me quietly, sitting on the arm of the chair. I nodded, still looking at the parchment.

"What'd the letter say?" Sirius said loudly and I heard a whack.

"Sirius! Nicole might not want to share it with you!" Bella scolded and James roared with laughter at the fact that Sirius had been told off by a girl.

"Maman and Papa 'ave decided on names," I said quietly. "Gabriel Antoine eef eet ees a boy and Sophie Jacqueline for a girl."

"What gorgeous names!" Bella beamed. Sirius stuck a finger in his mouth and pretended to gag, earning another smack.

-NM-

The months flew by after Christmas and soon, it was the tenth of May. Ever since May had started, I had been shaking with nerves and anticipation because of the baby. A week ago, Maman had sent me a photo of herself. She was so big!

Lily, Marlene and Alice had squealed upon hearing the news and had profusely congratulated me. They had wanted to send letters of congratulations to my mother and I had lost that battle, so they did so and a week later, Maman sent replies back saying that they were very sweet and that I should be very lucky to have such nice friends. I wholeheartedly agreed.

At breakfast, the mail arrived as per usual and I saw Rose swooping towards me, a letter clutched in her beak.

"Merci," I smiled and she stole some of my bacon before swooping off back to the Owlery. I slit open the letter and as soon as I had read the first word, I squealed loudly, attracting stares from everyone.

"Mon dieu! Mon dieu! Eet ees 'ere!" I shrieked. Noticing that everyone was staring at me, I stood up and bolted out of the hall with a slice of toast, heading towards the Transfiguration classroom, even though I'd be the first one there. I had just opened my letter again when I heard the footsteps of my friends, before they came into sight.

"Nicole! Is the baby here?" Lily said. I beamed brightly and nodded.

"Well? Read it!" Marlene ordered. I opened the letter and read:

_Nicole,_

_Sophie Jacqueline Martin was born at eleven o'clock last night, the ninth of May. I cannot tell you how happy we are! All your tantes and oncles are here, along with Sacha, Nicolas and Mathieu, and they are taking turns to visit and hold her. She looks almost like you did, belle fille. She has a little tuft of golden hair and eyes such a deep blue that they can only compare to the ocean._

_We are looking forward to next month, when you come home. She may not know you yet but little Sophie is eager to see her big sister and everyone else wants to see you soon._

_Work hard and make me proud, b__é__b__é__ fille,_

_Maman_

"I 'ave a seester," I said slowly, testing out the word and liking how it sounded. "A leetle seester."

"Congratulations!' Bella beamed.

"Hey look, there's something on the back!" Peter said. I turned the letter over and sure enough, something was attached. It was a photo of a tiny baby, her eyes open and looking at the camera.

"Aww, she's so adorable!" Alice cooed.

"Isn't she?" Lily gushed.

I had to agree. Little Sophie had a wisp of bright gold hair, exactly the same colour as Maman's, whereas mine was a darker blonde, like Papa's. Also, where I'd inherited Papa's light blue eyes, Sophie's were a deeper blue, like Maman's. She was moving around, blinking and staring at the camera and opening and closing her mouth.

"I am sure that this is quite a joyous occasion but I hope that will not interfere with my class," Professor McGonagall's stern voice said.

"Sorry, Professor," I said, stashing the photo and letter away and only then noticing that the rest of the class was here. As Professor McGonagall passed me to enter the room, I could have sworn that she gave me a small smile.

I was distracted all through Transfiguration, only managing to complete the spell because Lily and Remus prompted and helped me, and when the class was finished, Professor McGonagall asked me to stay behind.

"I understand that this is a happy event but in future, please try and pay attention to class," she said sternly. I looked down but Professor McGonagall's next words made me look up sharply.

"Congratulations, Miss Martin, she is a very pretty baby," she said. "I hope that you are very proud." I gaped at her until she made a shooing motion with her hand and I hurried off to my next class.

-NM-

The next month felt like it went on forever but soon, we were on the train, heading home. When we arrived at the station, I got a surprise. Instead of Maman and Papa, my triplet cousins, Sacha, Nicolas and Mathieu Moreau were picking me up.

"Sacha! Nicolas! Mathieu!" I said in delight, launching myself at them and hugging Mathieu around the middle. Laughing, he brushed my blonde locks away from my face and hugged me back.

"Bienvenue à la maison, chouette chevêche," Nicolas smiled softly when I hugged him.

" Ow 'ave you been, petite cousine?" Sacha grinned, ruffling my hair.

"Excellent!" I said. "But why are you three getting me?"

"Well, Tante Claire ees busy with Sophie and Oncle Antoine does not want to leave 'er," Nicolas replied. "And seence ze ozzer adults wanted to stay with 'er and Sophie, we volunteered to come and get you."

"You mean, we were _forced_," Sacha grinned, flicking back her short brown hair

"Zat sounds about right," I snorted.

"Hey, Nicole! Who're they?" Marlene called and I turned to see the boys and the girls approaching to say goodbye.

"Zese are my cousins," I smiled. "You guys, zese are Sacha, Nicolas and Mathieu Moreau. Zey are triplets. You three, zese are my friends, James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Lily, Marlene, Alice and Bella." I gestured to each of them as I introduced them.

"Pleased to meet you," Nicolas said politely, shaking their hands. Mathieu winked at them and Sacha just grinned. I noticed Sirius eying Sacha up and I decided not to tell him that Jacques would probably smash his head in.

"Stop staring at my seester like zat, meester," Mathieu glared at Sirius.

"And besides, I 'ave a boyfriend," Sacha smirked. "'Is name ees Jacques Durand."

"Drat," Sirius sighed dramatically and Bella hit him. She had taken to doing that a lot more since Christmas, something that Lily, Marlene and Alice had found absolutely hilarious when they returned.

"Lily!" we heard a voice call.

"I have to go," Lily said. "Nice meeting you three! Goodbye, Nicole!" She gave me a hug and melted into the crowd.

"I wish she'd do the same to me," James sighed and my cousins burst out laughing, as did the rest of us.

After exchanging goodbyes, Sacha held out her hand for me to take, which I did warily.

"We will meet you guys back zere," she told Nicolas and Mathieu, who nodded and disappeared with my trunk.

"We are Disapparating?" I said in alarm. Sacha merely smirked in response and turned on the spot, dragging me along with her. I felt like I was being squeezed through a black, very tight tube and before I could pass out from lack of air, we appeared at my house.

"Mon dieu! I never want to do zat again!" I gasped, falling to my knees. Sacha just laughed, pulled me up and dragged me inside.

"Nicole! Mon petit bébé! Comment avez-vous été? Comment était l'école?" When I entered the dining room, Tante Marie had swooped in and given me the biggest hug I had had in a long time, crushing my ribs.

"C'est excellent, tante!" I managed to gasp out.

"Chouette chevêche! Vous êtes de retour!" Now it was Tante Apolline's turn to squash me to her and when she had finished, Tante Adeline and Julie took their turns. When I was free, I noticed that all seven of my cousins were here, counting the triplets.

"Nicole!" Maman had swept into the room and embraced me tightly and I breathed in the familiar smell of chocolate and roses that seemed to cling to her. She let me go and turned to face the room she had come from. "Antoine! Bring 'er!"

When Papa entered the room, I nearly gasped out loud. In his arms was the most beautiful little baby I had ever seen - she was even more gorgeous than in her photograph. At one month old, she had more hair and she had almost started smiling and to me, she looked like an angel from heaven.

"Nicole, meet Sophie Jacqueline Martin," Maman smiled. I slowly approached Papa and tentatively placed a hand on Sophie's forehead. She gurgled, making me break out into a grin.

"C'est beau!" I said, making Maman beam.

"Do you want to 'old 'er?" Papa asked, alarming me.

"I do not know 'ow to 'old a baby!" I said. Maman smiled and showed me how to hold little Sophie, correcting my grip and moving Sophie around so that I was more comfortable. Once I had had a hold, Maman took her off me and cuddled her longingly. I felt a strong pang of jealousy but pushed it down, feeling ashamed.

"Do you want to go and 'ang out with your cousins?" Papa asked and I said yes, so I went into the living room with Rosalie, Pauline, Luc and Olivier - Sacha, Nicolas and Mathieu obviously felt that they could stay with the adults.

"What ees 'Ogwarts like, Nicole?" Pauline asked instantly. I smiled and began to tell her all about it, even pulling some photos out of my trunk to show them.

"So zese are your friends?" Rosalie said, examining them. "Who ees who?" I pointed out my friends and told my cousins about them.

"_I want to go to 'Ogwarts_!" little Olivier suddenly piped up in French - Auntie Julie had been teaching us all English but since he and Luc were four and seven respectively, they were still too little to grasp it fully, though they did get the gist of most of it. "_It looks far more interesting than Beauxbatons_!"

"_It is_," I grinned. "_But if you want to come to 'Ogwarts, you will either have to move here or stay with me, Maman, Papa and Sophie_."

"_It will be worth it_!" Olivier said. "_Tante Marie and Oncle Alain will want Pauline to go to Beauxbatons with Rosalie but Maman and Papa might send me here if I ask! Then I could be with my big cousin_!" I felt a swell of pride and happiness at his words and that he would want to be with me.

"_I want to come to_!" Luc said. "_No way do I want to go to some stuffy school with girls and girly boys!_" Rosalie shot him a gare at that.

"_Well, if you two ask very nicely, I am sure that your parents will let you stay here in the last week of the summer holidays each year so that you can get to 'Ogwarts_!" I said and both the boys looked very excited.

"_Let's go and ask, Olivier_!" Luc said and they jumped up and raced into the kitchen.

"I am not going to be ze one to tell zem zat they have to learn Eenglish properly and actually study," I said and Rosalie and Pauline snorted.

* * *

_**Translations:  
- sont stupides - are stupid  
- Tante - aunt  
- Oncle - uncle  
- Maman est enceinte - Mum is pregnant  
- Mon chéri Nicole - My darling Nicole  
- un petit frère/une petite soeur - a little brother/a little sister  
- grande soeur - big sister  
- Je t'aime, Nicole - I love you, Nicole  
- Joyeux Noël et une Bonne et Année - Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year  
- belle fille - beautiful girl  
- Bienvenue à la maison, chouette chevêche - Welcome home, little owl  
- petite cousine - little cousin  
- Nicole! Mon petit bébé! Comment avez-vous été? Comment était l'école? - Nicole! My little baby! How have you been? How was school?  
- Chouette chevêche! Vous êtes de retour! - Little owl! You're back!**_

* * *

**Ok then, more French than usual but considering that she's with her family now and all (the italics were French written in English)…and this marks the end of her (short) second year. And in regards to Monsieur Delacour's first name, it was never given, only Monsieur, which means Mr in French.**

**Note: Rosalie Cl****é****ment does not, I repeat, does NOT have ANYTHING to do with Rosalie Bitchface Hale from Twitlight. Rosalie is simply a French name that I like (along with Alice and Seth - why, Twilight, WHY?)**

**Now then, what about a review for little ol' me?**

**Come on. Imperio!**

**Now you will review! You will just scroll down to that little box and leave a comment, whether it be a word or a mini novel.**

**Ok then. You go off and do what I asked you to do.**

**Au revoir! **


	5. Snape's Misadventure

**A/N: Ok, now this is in Nicole's third year, when they finally attempt the actual transformation. Remember that in canon, the Marauders didn't do it until their fifth year (PoA, when Remus is explaining), so don't get your hopes up that they'll do it early. I'm going to hurry things along so this will jump from third year to fifth halfway through, since I am writing a complete seventh year and after that.**

**dragonmia, thanks for all your reviews! No, you don't get three cookies…if you read what I wrote, you'd know that you get SIX cookies! One for reading my A/Ns, two for getting the My Immortal reference (virility…hehe…) and three for reviewing! Eh, I don't hate Twilight, I like it but only because it's so funny and terribly written XD Ok, I'll take the Imperius Curse off you but I hope I don't lose reviews!**

**hollyleaf988, thanks as well! I guess the reviews start off slow in any story but now I'm getting more and I'm really happy! :) I'd never say no to more reviews but 15 for 4 chapters is pretty good as compared to other stories! Yeah, Mana is awesome, isn't she?**

**And Bandia, thanks too! It's really hard to actually give your character flaws and not turn them into a Mary Sue so I'm really glad that no one hates her! I'm about halfway through chapter nine so once I get to chapter eight, updates could slow down (and I'm co-writing a story with my bestie, RangerManaInSnuggieWar) but I promise I won't stop updating without a good reason! **

**Which brings me to another message: if you guys would like to suggest some scenes I could write out in seventh year, it would be much appreciated and you will get a chapter dedicated to you. I mean, let's face it, even the best authors need outside opinions.**

**Disclaimer: How many bloody times? I. Do. Not. Own. It!**

* * *

"I still can't do it!" Peter wailed. We were currently in a small secret passage that we had discovered while running from a horde of angry Slytherins and we were working on our Animagus transformations - we could only do it on weekends, holidays or after dinner.

"Don't worry Peter, ze book says zat we will not get eet for years," I said kindly.

"Well, you'd think we'd have made some progress!" he grumbled, his eyes squeezed shut with the effort of trying to keep his mind blank.

"Well, all I know is that I feel hairier," Sirius said, examining his arm, which had a thin coating of black hair. "And Prongs' fingernails look harder."

"Thanks for that," James muttered.

"And Sage, your hair looks a little feathery," Remus frowned, examining my hair. When I caught it between my feathers, I could see that he was right. My blonde locks looked a little wispy and feather-like, though they still genuinely looked like hair.

"Well, eet ees progress," I beamed. "I theenk zat we should give eet a rest for tonight, don't you theenk?"

"Ok then, now we have to try and get rid of this," Sirius sighed and he shut his eyes and started muttering under his breath.

As I chanted the counter-spell in my head, I couldn't help but remember back to the day when we'd found out our Animagus forms:

-Flashback-

"Have you found it?" Remus asked. It was the start of June in our second year and we were meditating, trying to find our inner animal.

"Nearly there," James muttered. "I'm in the same forest but I just can't…wait!"

"What?" My eyes snapped open and Sirius, Remus and I stared at James.

"What is it?" Sirius said quickly.

"I found it!" James grinned widely, his eyes snapping open. "I was in that same forest but then I looked into a lake and I saw it! My animal!"

"What ees eet?" I said.

"A stag!" James beamed. Sirius whooped and clapped him on the back.

"Excellent work, James!" I said.

"I think we've found his nickname," Remus smiled - we had wanted to give each other nicknames based on our Animagus forms but since we did not know what they were, we could not come up with them. Only Remus had one so far: Moony, after his werewolf side.

"What?" Peter said.

"Prongs."

"Prongs?" James said in confusion.

"After your antlers, silly," I grinned.

"Come on, Nic, let's get ours!" Sirius said.

"And Peter," I said, noticing that Peter looked a little upset at being left out.

"Yeah, and Pete," Sirius said. "Sorry, buddy."

"It's alright." Peter did not look very convincing though. I shrugged it off and started meditating again, trying to reach my inner animal.

It was night and I was flying high above the ground, the moonlight illuminating my surroundings and the wind blowing through my feathers as I looked for a nice place to rest. I settled for a tree above a small pond inhabited by ducks and swans. As I landed, I got a look at my reflection. It was -

"I did it!" Sirius and I exclaimed in unison, before staring at each other.

"That's excellent! What'd you see?" Remus said.

"Vous premier," I said to Sirius.

"Well, I was running down a street," he explained, "and I got a look at myself in a window and I was a big black dog, like the Grim!" Peter looked alarmed.

"Well, I was flying again and when I landed een a tree, I saw myself een a pond," I said. "I was an owl! A barn owl, just like Rose!"

"A stag, a dog and an owl?" James said happily. "Now all we have to do is help Pete."

"I'm hopeless at this!" Peter cried.

"You'll get it, don't worry," Remus said. "Now, nicknames for Sirius and Nicole…" We started thinking.

"I've got it!" James said five minutes later. "Well, dogs have padded feet, right?"

"Oui…" I nodded.

"Padfoot!"

"I like it," Sirius nodded after a moment. "Padfoot."

"What about Nicki?" Peter asked. Remus frowned.

"Nic, what's the French word for wise?" he murmured. "Because owls are thought to be wise…"

"Sage…" I said slowly.

"There we go!" Sirius announced. "Moony, Sage, Padfoot and Prongs! Now once Peter finds his Animagus form, we'll all have nicknames!"

"Ok, come on Pete, you can do it," James encouraged. Looking heartened, Peter shut his eyes and started to meditate.

-End Flashback-

Peter managed to find his inner animal the next day from then - it was a rat and so we christened him Wormtail. Moony, Wormtail, Sage, Padfoot and Prongs…it had a nice ring to it.

Of course, Lily, Marlene, Alice and Bella had no idea that the boys and I were becoming Animagi - if Lily heard, she would have a cow (I think that's how it goes).

The boys and I had also come up with a name for our group: the Marauders, rightfully named because we were troublemakers. Well, James and Sirius were; Remus and I were the brains behind the operations (they had finally convinced me that I had to have fun and loosen up and so I willingly participated) and Peter just did whatever we asked.

"Come on, let's get to bed," Remus said and my eyes snapped open - at some point, my hair had reverted back to normal and I stood up. "It's already nearly midnight and we have class tomorrow, not to mention we could get detention."

"You're such a party pooper, Moony," Sirius pouted but he stood up and stretched, James and Peter following. We ducked under the Invisibility Cloak and when we reached Gryffindor Tower, I bade the boys goodnight and I climbed up the staircase and pushed open the door.

"Eh bien, sacrément," I said. Lily, Marlene, Alice and Bella were all awake and the four of them were glaring at me.

"And just where have you been, Nicole?" Lily said in a soft voice.

"Out with ze boys," I said slowly.

"It's nearly midnight!" Bella said loudly. "Not to mention that you've been disappearing on us with them for ages!"

"Sorry," I said. "I - I was just doing somezing eemportant with zem."

"Important, my arse!" Marlene said. "More important than us?"

"I said I was sorry! Can I go to bed now?"

"We will be having a long talk about this tomorrow," Alice threatened. I gulped, nodded, changed and got into bed.

True to their word, the girls chewed me out for not spending time with them in ages the next morning.

"For ze millionth time, I am sorry!" I said.

"Sorry just isn't good enough, girl," Marlene glared. "You are spending the whole week with us, no questions asked!"

They did have a good point, though; I was starting to neglect them in favour of the other Marauders and if that didn't stop, I'd lose them.

"I am really sorry," I said. The girls' face softened.

"We forgive you," Bella said. "But you're still spending the week with us!"

"Ok," I said, defeated. They smiled brightly and then hustled me off to breakfast.

"What was that about?" James whispered to me at breakfast.

"They got upset that I 'ave been neglecting zem and now I 'ave to spend a whole week with zem," I replied. "But zey do 'ave a point."

"But what're we going to do about your Animagus transformation?" Peter said in alarm.

"I can give eet a miss for a week," I said. "Ze girls are more eemportant zan turning eento an animal. No offence, Moony," I added, fearing that he would take it the wrong way. He did but not in the way I expected.

"It's ok, Sage," he said. "You're right, the girls are more important than me, so go and spend time with them." James, Sirius, Peter and I stared at him.

"Moony…I never said zat," I said slowly. "What I said was zat ze Animagus transformation can wait but my friends cannot."

"And just what are you doing, missy?" I heard Lily's voice scold and I winced. "You're not supposed to be talking to them, remember? You're meant to be with us?"

"I was just telling zem zat I have to be with you girls and not zem for a while!" I protested. "Ozzerwise, zey would 'ave gotten confused!"

"It's true, she was just telling us about the circumstances," Remus cut in and Lily smiled.

"Well, that's ok then," she said. "But this is the only time you'll get away with it, Nic!"

"Want to go out with me, Evans?" James said, ruffling his hair and grinning cockily. Lily threw him a look of deep loathing.

"For the five hundred and sixty seventh time, Potter, no!" she said and dragged me away to the girls.

"She keeps a count of how many times she rejects you?" I heard Sirius laugh. "You're hopeless, Prongs!" I didn't hear James' reply but I knew that it was very rude.

-NM-

Two years later and we had done it! We had finally transformed into Animagi!

"I can't believe we did it!" Peter squeaked, turning back from a rat into a human. While Remus congratulated him and I flew around, hooting triumphantly, James and Sirius were having a mock fight.

We'd had to find a new place to practice when Remus and I had realised that a small passageway couldn't possibly fit a stag, a dog, a rat and an owl, so after prowling the school and finding loads of secret passageways and places, Remus had finally had the bright idea of using the Shrieking Shack on non-full-moon nights.

"We're all set for the next full moon!" I beamed after landing and transforming. I had finally managed to suppress my French accent, though you could still hear it - it didn't impact my pronunciation, though.

"I can't wait!" James and Sirius were now human again as well.

"Come on, let's get back before someone notices that we're gone!" I said. "Besides, we don't want Moony to lose his prefect badge, do we?"

"Yeah, he's the reason we get away with so much!" James beamed. Remus muttered something under his breath as Sirius took out a piece of parchment, tapped it with his wand and said, "I solemnly swear that I am up to no good."

A map of Hogwarts snaked out over the parchment, though there were many gaps. After realising that we could find every little passage if we wanted to, Sirius and James had come up with the idea for the Marauder's Map. Remus and I had looked up all the spells we needed and now the map showed us Hogwarts, who was in it and it even had our personalities imbued in it; if someone tried to open the Map without the password or they said their name, the Map would use our personalities and insult them.

"Anyone out there?" Peter said.

"Just Snivellus," Sirius sneered, tracing out a route. Out of respect for Lily, I had never participated in hexing him, no matter how much he may have deserved it. Although Lily and Snape were starting to drift apart now; Snape had his little Death Eater friends and Lily had us girls.

Especially after what happened to Mary McDonald the other week - let's just say that she only got out of the hospital wing now. It was Dark Magic and while I admired Lily trying to stay friends with Snape, I could tell that it was only a matter of time.

"Ok, let's go," Sirius said and we exited into the tunnel. Once we'd reached the end and pushed ourselves out, we hid under the Invisibility Cloak and snuck back up to the castle, successfully avoiding Snape, who was skulking in the shadows, looking around for us.

-NM-

Over the next few months, we found out more about Hogwarts than I think anyone else had ever been able to and the Marauder's Map was fully fleshed out - we knew about hundreds of secret passages and alcoves, seven passages of which led out to Hogsmeade.

We had started letting Remus out of the Shrieking Shack on full moons and prowling around together, having fun and exploring. At first, I had exploded at the idea but James and Sirius told me that they could keep him in check and he wouldn't bite anyone. They even stationed me as lookout, since I could fly; if I saw anyone, they would force him to hide until the person had passed.

I still wasn't ok with it but I knew that James and Sirius would take full responsibility if anything happened and that they were large enough to take care of him. Peter was used to hit the knot on the Whomping Willow and to squeeze into all the tight places that we others couldn't get into.

I was such a coward that I didn't tell Lily and the girls anything - not about my Animagus transformation nor the fact that we were leading Moony on night-time adventures (although Lily had found out about Remus' 'furry little problem' as we called it). But that all changed in March, on a full moon.

Remus had told us to stay and study on this particular full moon, since our OWLs were coming up and I was starting to freak out over them. I should have known that something was seriously wrong the minute Sirius entered with a wide grin but I chose to ignore it in favour of my textbook.

"I've done it!" he said triumphantly.

"Done what?" Lily said warily. Alice, Marlene and Bella were on the other side of the common room and Lily had started warming to Peter and Remus, though she still thought that James was an arrogant toerag.

"Gotten Snape off our backs!" I looked up, feeling a weight settle in my stomach.

"Padfoot…what exactly did you do?" I said slowly.

"I told Snape how to get into the Whomping Willow," Sirius replied. "Now maybe he'll learn not to snoop around!" There was a deathly silence.

"You did WHAT?" James, Lily and I roared.

"Sirius Black, you IDIOT!" I added. The common room had gone silent and everyone was staring at us.

"Nicole, go and distract Moony! I'll get Snape!" James bellowed. I nodded and ran like the wind out of the common room. When I got to a window, I transformed and flew at full speed down to the Willow, pecked the knob with my beak and flew in. Snape wasn't here yet and Moony was crouched in a corner, though when he saw me, his eyes seemed to light up.

A few minutes later, I heard a commotion and Snape popped up, took one look at Moony and screamed bloody murder. Moony had gone erect and was staring at him, before he lunged and tried to rip Snape to shreds. I screeched and flew down, pecking at Moony's face. He was distracted as he tried to bat me away but I was too fast for him and darted around.

"Come on, Snape, COME ON!" I heard James roar and I saw him seize Snape by the scruff of the neck and pull him away, completely ignoring the Slytherin's struggles. Now that the danger was past, I settled down and looked at Moony, my blue eyes alight with sorrow at having to attack him. I then decided to return to the common room, where James and Lily were glaring at Sirius. I strode up and as he turned to me, I slapped him across the face and then dragged him up the dormitory with James so that we could yell at him without the whole common room hearing.

"YOU ABSOLUTE IDIOT, SIRIUS BLACK!" I shouted. "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? HE COULD HAVE DIED! HOW DO YOU THINK MOONY WOULD HAVE FELT ABOUT THAT? HE ALREADY HATES WHAT HE IS, DO YOU REALLY THINK MURDERING SOMEONE WILL MAKE HIM FEEL BETTER?"

"IF REMUS KILLED SOMEONE, HE'D HAVE TO BE EXECUTED!" James added. "HOW WOULD YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT? YOU'D HAVE THE BLOOD OF TWO PEOPLE ON YOUR HANDS, ONE OF WHO IS YOUR BEST FRIEND!"

"I - I wasn't thinking," Sirius mumbled and I snorted.

"Well, that much is clear," I muttered. "You know what, Black? I can't even look at you so I'm going to leave and I don't want you to talk to me, got it?" Sirius nodded wordlessly. "And I expect you to tell Moony EVERYTHING that happened - he deserves to know what you did!"

"Don't worry, I'll make sure he does," James said, an ugly look on his face. I turned and stalked out of the dormitory, where Lily was waiting. Wordlessly, she pulled me into the girls' dormitory and sat me down.

"I don't understand something, Nic," she said. "James told you to go and distract Remus while he saved Severus but how could you? Werewolves attack humans and you would have been ripped to shreds!" I gulped and froze under her gaze; well, the cat -err, owl - was out of the bag now.

"Ok, I'll tell you but you have to promise to keep this a secret!" I hissed. "The boys and I could get into massive trouble for this!" I didn't even want to tell Marlene, Alice and Bella; that's how much of a coward I was.

"I promise I won't tell anyone," Lily said, her green eyes shining with sincerity. I sighed and then turned into Sage and she just stared at me, her mouth wide open.

"What - you - how - owl - Animagus -" she stuttered, staring at me. I hooted before turning back into Nicole.

"That's what we've been doing for the past few years," I said.

"Why?" Lily had got her voice back. "It's illegal! You could go to Azkaban for that! Why would you take the risk?"

"For Remus," I said softly. "Werewolves aren't dangerous to animals so we became Animagi to stay with him on the full moon."

"What are the others' forms?" Lily demanded after a moment.

"Well, it can't hurt to spill everything now that you know," I sighed. "James is a stag, Peter's a rat and Black's a dog." I was so furious at Sirius that I couldn't even use his first name now.

"Oh, _now _I understand your nicknames!" Lily slapped her forehead with her palm. "Moony, Wormtail, Sage, Padfoot, Prongs…it all makes sense now!"

"I'm glad you think that," I muttered, feeling absolutely furious at Sirius for what he'd done.

* * *

_**Translations:**_

_**- Vous premier - You first  
- Eh bien, sacr**__**é**__**ment - Well, damn**_

* * *

**Hmm, massive time skip! This will be continued next chapter and let me say something:**

**I know many of you will think 'Why did you have the werewolf incident happen in fifth year, Em? It's far too early!' Well yes, a lot of people have accepted that it happened near the end of sixth year but if you can remember, Lily and Severus' falling-out happened at the end of their OWLs, so in their fifth year. But in DH (The Prince's Tale), Lily is seen talking to Severus about it when she confronts him about Mary McDonald, and I quote:**

'**You went sneaking down that tunnel by the Whomping Willow and James Potter saved you from whatever's down there -'**

**So there, that's my reasoning that it happened in fifth year. Lily wasn't speaking to Severus after the Mudblood incident.**

**Now then, please review?**

**You guys who do review are absolute angels and I love you all but I do think I could aim for more.**

**Though I'm not the type to hold a story hostage, because I know that'll just lose me readers.**

**Please?**


	6. Snape's Worst Memory

**A/N: Nothing to say…except this is the last chapter of fifth year…and I have nothing interesting in sixth year, so after this, the real story will start. **

**MsPaigeMeadows, thanks :) Yeah, Mana told me and I just have to say thanks - I'll tell you when it's coming up to give you time. And no, my friend, you have the pairing all wrong ;)**

**Thanks again, Bandia and Spottedmask12! And thank you too, SophiaLily1980! Yet another who has fallen prey to my little friend… ;) And yeah, Maddaz a Hatter's story gave me the initial inspiration for this and I couldn't think of another title (hmm…) but I'm not copying! And thanks, Marauder's Era stories aren't exactly mine and Mana's forte so I'm glad my first try turned out alright!**

**Disclaimer: I own the spaghetti, potato puffs and salad I'm eating for dinner but not Harry Potter. That honour belongs to J.K. Rowling, one of the greatest authors to ever exist!**

* * *

As I had predicted, Remus was absolutely furious with Sirius the next day. In fact, he had yelled at Sirius in the Great Hall, causing Professor McGonagall to take ten points from Gryffindor and him to move it outside.

I was very mad with Sirius but I knew that he was truly sorry for what he'd done, so I sat with him one night, a week after the incident, to do my homework - James, Remus, Peter and the girls were avoiding him.

"I thought you didn't want me to talk to you," Sirius croaked, not looking up from his essay. Since the falling out, he had been immersing himself in schoolwork.

"I know you really are sorry, Sirius," I said softly. "I haven't forgiven you - far from it - but I can't stand to see you sit here all alone like this." He looked up and gave me a weak, watery smile.

"Thanks, Sage," he said. "I'm glad you don't hate me."

"I don't hate you and neither do the boys, they're just very angry with you."

"What's the news from home?" Little Sophie was two, nearly three years old and she would send me pictures that she had drawn nearly every morning. I kept every one of them on my bedside table and I looked over them every morning with love - she usually drew me and her, though she'd sometimes add Maman and Papa in.

"Sophie still sends those pictures," I smiled. "The latest one is of me and an owl and I can't decide whether she's a creepy psychic or she's just drawing me and Rose." Sirius let out a chuckle.

"I wish I had a sister that cared like her," he said.

"But you do!" I touched his arm gently. "I'm your sister, Sirius, and James, Remus and Peter are your brothers. Besides, Soph has practically adopted you anyway." This time, he laughed louder.

Sirius had never been very excited about going home so last December, I had invited him to stay at my house for Christmas (trust Maman to twist it into something entirely more!). Sophie had fallen in love with him the minute she'd laid eyes on him and she'd never let him out of her sight; she'd always ask him to play with her, always wanted to draw him and always wanted him to tickle her and lift her up.

"I am sorry, Nicole, but I theenk zat you 'ave lost your leetle seester," Maman had grinned to me when Sophie had asked (cough, forced, cough) Sirius to tickle her for the thousandth time.

"Do you have to go, Siri?" Sophie had whined when it was time to return to Hogwarts - since she had never lived in France, she hadn't developed the distinctive accent.

"Sorry, Soph, but I do," Sirius said, ruffling her hair.

"You come back next time!" she'd ordered and I'd burst out laughing at Sirius being ordered around by a two-year-old girl.

"I swear that girl's got a crush on me!" the present Sirius said, writing a sentence on his parchment.

"She has," I grinned. "All the pictures she sent me for a month after that were of you - she even drew me one about her and you getting married." Sirius' look of alarm was so comical that I fell out of my chair with laughter.

"Ok, I know she likes me but that's borderline creepy!" he yelped.

"Well, you are very hot," I admitted once I'd recovered.

"Like what you see?" Sirius recovered quickly and smirked.

"If you mean do I like you, then no," I said. "Unlike most girls, I care more about personality than looks."

"Are you saying that I have no personality?" Sirius exclaimed.

"What do you think?" Sirius glared at me when I smirked.

"I see you're quick to forgive, Nicole," I heard James' voice say and I turned around to see him, Remus and Peter.

"He is truly sorry, James," I said as Sirius looked down and resumed his essay, his face slightly pink.

"And how do you know?" Remus said in a hard voice - I could tell that he wanted to make up with Sirius but was still angry about the joke.

"Because if he wasn't, do you really think Nicole would be talking to him?" Lily and the girls popped up out of nowhere, making the boys jump.

"Don't do that!" Peter said weakly and Marlene just smirked at him.

"Moony, I'm really sorry," Sirius said quietly. "I know what I did was wrong." Remus stared at him for a moment before his eyes softened.

"I forgive you, Padfoot," he said. Sirius' head shot up.

"Really?"

"Do you want him to continue ignoring you?" Bella smirked. Sirius ruffled her hair, making her glare at him and hit him.

"Don't do that!" she said.

"Or what, honeycheeks?" Sirius grinned, making Bella roar and dive on him. Since he was on a chair, he ended up pressed against the back of it, Bella on top of him and glaring at him ferociously.

"I always knew there was chemistry there," Marlene smirked, making Bella jump up and back away, blushing furiously.

"Shut up! I don't like him!" she yelled.

"Denial!" Lily, Alice, Marlene and I sang.

"I don't! I don't!"

"What do you think, Prongs?" I stage-whispered to James.

"Methinks the lady is in love with Sir Padfoot," he stage-whispered back.

"I'm not listening!"

"Soph's not going to be happy," I grinned at a pink Sirius. "She's got competition!"

"I don't like Bella!" Sirius protested.

"La la la la la!" Bella said loudly, stuffing her fingers in her ears. "I can't hear you!" I stood up and grabbed the closest person, which happened to be Remus, and twirled him around, all the while singing, "Denial! Denial! Denial!"

"Oh my gosh! Nicole likes Remus!" Lily squealed. I pushed Remus away so that he fell to the floor with a, "Hey!" and turned to Lily.

"Where the hell did that come out of?" I said. "I don't like anyone!"

"Yet," Alice said cheekily.

"How's Frank Longbottom, Al?" I said loudly, making her turn red and shoot me a glare.

"I - I don't know what you're talking about!" she stammered. While the girls turned on her, I made a quick escape out of the common room and into the corridors, where I leaned against the wall, my forehead in my hand.

"You needed some air too?" I heard Remus say and I looked up to see him standing in front of me, smiling softly.

"Yes," I sighed. "One minute I'm telling Sirius about my sister's crush on him and the next, the girls are squealing about crushes."

"To be fair, you did participate," Remus said.

"I thought you were on my side!" I pouted and he chuckled.

"You want to go for a walk?" He swept his arm out to the corridor and I looked at him.

"Isn't curfew in a few minutes?" I frowned and he smiled and produced a certain piece of parchment. "Ok then, let's go."

We walked silently through the illuminated corridors, the moonlight shining in softly, and then Remus spoke.

"I forgave him days ago, you know," he said. "I just didn't know how to approach him."

"Well, I'm sure he's glad that everything's ok now," I said sincerely. There was silence for another minute.

"Is it true that Sophie likes him?" Remus said in an amused voice and I snorted.

"You don't know the half of it," I muttered. "Every picture she sent for a month included Sirius in some way." Remus laughed softly as we stopped.

"I think we should head back," I said. "You have patrols and I don't want detention, thank you very much."

"I was never going to!" Remus held up his hands in a gesture of surrender.

"I never said that." We began walking back to the common room.

"Do you think Bella and Sirius really do like each other?" Remus said.

"Have you seen the way Bella looks at him? Half the time, she looks like she wants nothing more than to snog him and the other half, she's hitting and glaring at him." We both laughed.

When we got back to Gryffindor Tower, I announced that I was going to bed and Remus had to go back on patrol.

"Goodnight, Sage," Remus said.

"Goodnight," I replied and, looking at Remus's smile, I felt a lurch in my stomach region. When he left for patrol, I made my way up to the dormitory, shaking my head slowly.

-NM-

With all forgiven, it felt like our OWLs were thrust upon us next week, when in reality it was two and a half months. In that time, I had studied, sent Sophie a birthday present of crayons from Hogsmeade, studied, accompanied Remus and the others on the full moons and studied even more.

After our Defence Against the Dark Arts exam, Alice, Marlene, Bella and I were relaxing next to the lake since the weather had warmed up considerably. A light, warm breeze was blowing and my hair was a thick sheet of gold whipping out to the side as I took off my shoes and socks and stood in the water, my eyes closed and a content smile on my face.

Alice and Lily also had their shoes off, as did a small group of giggling girls next to us, but Bella was stretched out on the grass, eyes closed, her black hair splayed everywhere and her shirt ridden slightly up so that her belly was exposed.

"Oh great, _they're _here," Lily said scathingly and I looked over at the beech tree, where the other Marauders were sitting. James had that damn Snitch again and was entertaining Wormtail, Remus was reading and Sirius was staring around in that bored, handsome way of his.

"Must he always play with that Snitch like that?" Lily scowled.

"What's with you, Lils?" Alice said. "One minute, you're almost civil with him and the next, you hate his guts."

"Almost civil being the key word!" Bella called and we burst out laughing as Lily narrowed her eyes at us.

"Potter keeps looking at us!" she huffed and, turning around, I saw that she was right and James kept shooting us looks.

"No, he keeps looking at you," Marlene corrected and I giggled as Lily turned her glare to Marlene.

"All right, Snivellus?" I heard James say loudly and I mentally groaned. _Oh, here we go!_

"_Expelliarmus_!"

"Don't tell me Potter's starting on Sev again?" Lily said and made to advance on the boys but I held her back.

"Wait," I said quietly. "I want to see if Moony handles it." I noticed Remus sitting there, buried in his book though I knew he wasn't reading.

"_Impedimenta_!" Snape was blown backward and I could see Lily's face reddening with anger.

"Keep calm, Lils, keep calm," Alice was chanting.

"How can they just watch like it's a fun show or something?" Lily raged, gesturing to the gathering crowd, most of whom looked entertained. When James looked at us again, I glared and made a cutting throat gesture which I knew he saw but pretended not to. Peter was inching around Remus, seeking a better view.

"How was the exam, Snivelly?" we heard James say.

"I was watching him, his nose was touching the parchment," Sirius said. "There'll be great grease marks all over it, they won't be able to read a word." As Snape struggled to get up and the crowd laughed, Lily swelled with rage and it was becoming harder to hold her back. Apparently, Snape said something because Sirius replied, "Wait for what? What're you going to do, Snivelly, wipe your nose on us?"

Snape started spewing curses that would make a sailor blush and I felt myself start to lose control too; I'd never done anything to stop these things previously but enough was enough!

"Wash out your mouth," James said in an icy voice. "_Scourgify_!"

Snape's mouth filled up with soap bubbles and he started gagging and choking.

"That's IT!" Lily roared and she stormed towards them, me following her close behind. "Leave him ALONE!"

As soon as James saw Lily, his hand darted to his hair. I caught Remus looking at me and I shot him a vicious glare, mouthing, 'Why aren't you doing anything?' His face reddened and he sank deeper into his book.

"All right, Evans?" James said in a more mature, grown-up voice. I rolled my eyes; if he seriously thought that he'd get Lily like this, he had another thought coming.

"Leave him alone!" Lily said again, looking at James with hatred.

"What did he do to you?" I said. "I saw everything and you started it!"

"Well, it's more the fact that he exists, if you know what I mean," James said in a mock-thoughtful and my blue eyes narrowed, as did Lily's green ones. Lots of students laughed, Sirius and Peter included, but Remus continued 'reading' his book.

"You think you're funny," Lily said frostily. "But you're just an arrogant, bullying toerag. Leave him alone!"

"I will if you go out with me, Evans," James replied and I rolled my eyes. "Go on…go out with me and I'll never lay a wand on old Snivelly again."

"I wouldn't go out with you if it was a choice between you and the giant squid," Lily said coldly.

"James, if you really think that Lily will like you by cursing her friend, you have another thought coming," I said in a hard voice. "Leave him alone! I've let you get away with this sort of stuff for too long! And you," I turned on Remus, "you're a prefect! Why aren't you doing anything to stop this?" Remus didn't look like he heard me but I knew that he did by the way he sank deeper into his book and his face reddened even more.

"Bad luck, Prongs," Sirius said and turned to Snape. "Oi!" Snape had retrieved his wand and pointed it at James, causing a large gash to open on his cheek and spurt blood onto his robes. James spun around and a moment later, Snape was hanging upside down in the air, his head obscured by his robes, which were revealing skinny legs and a pair of grey underpants. The crowd cheered, James, Sirius and Peter started laughing loudly and Lily's face twitched like she was about to kill James.

"Let him down!" she said.

"Certainly," James replied and with a flick of his wand, Snape was lying on the ground. He quickly stood up, his wand out, but Sirius cast the Full Body-Bind on him and he fell back stiffly.

"LEAVE HIM ALONE!" Lily and I shouted, Lily holding her own wand out - I may not have liked Snape but I certainly didn't think that he deserved to be bullied like this, though he did start half the fights…

"Ah, Evans, don't make me hex you," James said. "And Nicki, I certainly don't want to hex you either."

"Take the curse off him, then!" Lily ordered. James sighed and then turned and muttered the counter-curse.

"There you go," he said as Snape stood up. "You're lucky Evans was here, Snivellus -"

"I don't need help from filthy Mudbloods like her!" he said. I bristled and started to advance but Lily held me back.

"Fine," she said in a cool voice. "I won't bother in future. And I'd wash your pants if I were you, _Snivellus_." I snorted; now that Lily was no longer on friendly terms with him, I could openly dislike him without her approval, though I'd never lift my wand against him.

"Apologise to Evans!" James threatened, pointing his wand at Snape.

"I don't want you to make him apologise!" Lily shouted at him. "You're as bad as he is!"

_Well, he doesn't go around calling people Mudbloods, _I thought.

"What?" James cried. "I'd NEVER call you a - you-know-what!"

"Messing up your hair because you think it looks cool to look like you've just got off your broomstick, showing off with that stupid Snitch, walking down corridors and hexing anyone who annoys you just because you can - I'm surprise your broomstick can get off the ground with that fat head on it. You make me SICK." And with that, she turned and stormed back to the lake.

"Evans! Hey, EVANS!" James called but she didn't turn around.

"What is it with her?" James said, trying to look like it was a casual question but failing.

"You really have to ask?" I snorted.

"Reading between the lines, I'd say she thinks you're a bit conceited," Sirius said.

"Right," James said furiously, "right -" He looked at me, as if asking for permission. I looked at Snape, who looked coldly at me back, and said, "You know what? I don't care anymore. I just stayed out of it out of respect for Lily but since you called her that," I looked back at James, "go right ahead." And I crossed my arms.

Another flash of light later and Snape was in the air again.

"Who wants to see me take off Snivelly's pants?"

"WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?" Professor McGonagall was hurrying down the lawn, her face set in a furious expression. "Put him down this instant, Mr Potter!"

"Very well," James shrugged and Snape crashed to the ground again.

"Mr Lupin, why aren't you doing your job?" Professor McGonagall was livid. "And Miss Martin, I thought better of you!"

"He called Lily a Mudblood," I shrugged indifferently. "Why should I do anything?" And with that, I flounced back to the lake.

In the end, James and Sirius got detention, as did Snape and even Remus, for not stepping in and intervening.

-NM-

A week later, it was time to leave Hogwarts. The train ride was relatively uninteresting and the real fun happened at the train station. Sirius and I exited the platform together and when Sophie saw him, she instantly screamed, "SIRI!" and she ran at him.

"Hi, Sophie," he gasped, hugging her as she squeezed him around the middle.

"Aww, how sweet," James cackled from behind us. "Sirius is such a ladies' man, isn't he, Sage?"

"He sure is," I grinned.

"Wise?" Maman smiled at me. I nodded.

"Oui, zey call me Sage because I am smart." I slipped back into my French accent now that I was with my family.

"Can Siri come home with us?" Sophie pleaded, her lip trembling as she looked at Maman.

"I do not know, ma ange," Maman said; she still called me bébé fille and she called Sophie ma ange - my angel.

"My parents wouldn't care," Sirius shrugged. "Better a lovestruck two-year-old than them!" he hissed to me and I carefully concealed my snort. Maman looked concerned at his lack of excitement about his parents but let it go.

"Sirius! There you are!" I saw an unpleasant-looking old lady striding regally towards us, her husband at her side and Regulus Black with her. When he saw us, he sneered, which I returned.

"Come on, we must be going!" she said impatiently, seizing him by the back of his neck and pulling him away.

"Can't Siri stay with us, miss?" Sophie begged. Regulus' lips twitched.

"Aww, you've got yourself a girlfriend, _Siri_!" he taunted and Sophie flushed a brilliant red as she and I glared at him.

"That's my sister you're making fun of," I said coldly.

"Leave her alone, Reggie, I didn't know you'd sink so low as to pick on little kids," Sirius said.

"Can he stay, Maman? Can he?" Sophie was asking Maman. She looked at Mrs Black for a response.

"No," the woman said shortly and started pulling Sirius away. "Come on, we have a schedule to keep!" I knew that it was not her wanting to see Sirius that made her forbid him from coming; it was that she didn't want him to be happy.

"See you in September, Sage!" Sirius called and I waved until he disappeared.

"Well, she seems…nice," Papa said awkwardly and I snorted darkly.

"Do not worry, Soph, I am sure he will come zis Christmas," I said and Sophie's face brightened up.

* * *

**No translations! Seems a bit of a weird place to end it but I had nothing more to write.**

**Don't worry, Sirius won't end up with Sophie; she's like thirteen years younger than him (although, to be fair, Tonks is more than ten years younger than Remus).**

**No, Nicole won't hex Snape, though she will be mean to him in terms of verbal. And don't forget the new poll I have up!**

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	7. The Worst Night of my Life

**A/N: Now the real story starts! You guys might hate me for this chapter. Just a fair warning. Also, I have updated every day because of pre-written chapters but now, school is catching up and I do have two more pre-written chapters but you can expect updates once a week or once a fortnight.**

**MsPaigeMeadows: Ah, you meant Remus. Well, like I said earlier, I have plans for Sirius ;) I tried writing a Sirius/OC story (and indeed, two chapters are directly from that story but very modified) ;) But it crashed and burned and I never put it up here -_-**

**DeathByHanging: Thanks :)**

**Disclaimer: When are you going to get it through your thick heads? I don't own this! Gosh… (does an awesome Harold TDI pose)**

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"Bonsoir, Maman," I said, kissing Maman on the cheek.

"Bonsoir, bébé fille," she said softly, giving me a hug.

"Bonsoir, Papa."

"Bonsoir, Nicole."

I made my way down the hallway to my room, stopping to say goodnight to Sophie on the way, who had just gotten into bed. Once I was in bed, I lit up my wand (I was now seventeen and could therefore use magic) and examined the photo album of me and my friends that Lily had given me last Christmas, especially the ones at Lily's seventeenth birthday, which we had held in the common room. There was one of us five girls, one of me and the Marauders and even one of me and eleven-year-old Luc, who had started his first year that year (Tante Marie and Oncle Alain had allowed him to come to Hogwarts).

The highlight of the night definitely had to be when James got so drunk on Firewhisky that he tried to kiss Lily, who had punched his face in. Alice and Frank had gotten together at the start of our sixth year and Remus and I went on regular walks together where we'd just talk and enjoy the peace. On one of these, we'd even caught Bella and Sirius having a 'good time' in a broom closet.

"You can't tell the others!" Bella had begged. "Please! We want to keep it a secret for now!"

"Why?" Remus had said curiously.

"Well…you know what Sirius is like," Bella had replied, earning an, "Oi!" from Sirius. "I don't want Lils, Marls and Alice to get mad because they think that Sirius is taking advantage of me." It was true; Sirius had slept with quite a lot of girls throughout our sixth year, earning himself a reputation as a womaniser.

"We won't," I had promised. "But if Sirius does take advantage of you…well, let's just say that he and Mr Fist will become very well acquainted." He had actually gulped at those last words and fervently promised not to hurt Bella.

So all in all, it had been quite a fun year. When I got to a photo of Remus smiling that smile of his at the camera, my stomach lurched and I felt my cheeks warm up.

_What? What the hell am I feeling? He's my friend! _I thought furiously and flipped to another photo.

My seventeenth birthday had been a month later but nothing really exciting happened there, apart from the usual drunkenness, snogging in broom closets and doing the dirty in quiet places - all very usual when it comes to senior-only parties, from what I was told.

We'd had another party for James a few months later and while it wasn't as eventful, it had still been quite fun. I'd had to hurry poor Luc away when James and Sirius got drunk and started belting out really rude lyrics to perfectly ordinary songs and Marlene had drunkenly kissed an alarmed Peter but Lily's party had been far more eventful.

I bolted upright when I heard a crash in the living room and I softly jumped out of bed and opened my door a crack.

"No! I'll never join you!" Maman screeched.

"_Crucio_!" I heard a harsh female voice say and Maman started screaming. I took a sharp intake of breath when I saw her writhing on the floor.

_No! No! Help! Someone, anyone! _I begged in my mind.

"_Avada Kedavra_!" There was a flash of green light and Maman lay still on the ground. I started to cry quietly as they started on Papa and then I saw Sophie's door open and her head peep out curiously.

"Non! Sophie!" I hissed and I darted forwards, grabbed her and pulled her into my room before the Death Eaters could see. I shut the door just in time to block the flash of green light that extinguished Papa's life.

"Maman? Papa?" Sophie whispered.

"Soph…Maman and Papa are gone," I murmured. She stared at me.

"But they'll come back, right?" Looking at her sweet, innocent face made my heart break but I had to force myself to say, "Non, petite ange, they are not coming back." Sophie stared at me for a second before bursting into tears.

"Come on, we have to get out of here!" I hurried over to my trunk and shrunk it before popping it into my pocket and seizing Sophie's hand.

"Now, Soph, you have to be a good girl and not let go of my hand," I said and she nodded, still crying. "Sur trois. Une…deux…"

SMASH.

My door flew open and Sophie screamed and pressed herself into me as a group of Death Eaters entered.

"Lucius," I sneered, acting braver than I felt.

"Nicole," he sneered right back. He then looked at Sophie. "Oh, is this your little sister? I don't believe I've offered my congratulations."

"Go to hell," I spat as Sophie whimpered. Malfoy tutted.

"Dear me, I believe that you need to learn some manners," he said. "I thought that French people had good manners."

"Can I teach her respect?" a crazy-looking but beautiful woman asked eagerly. Malfoy mock-bowed.

"Go right ahead, Bellatrix."

_Go figure, your best friend shares part of her name with a deranged Death Eater, _was my last thought before I was overcome with pain. I rolled around on the floor, screaming and feeling as if a thousand hot knives were stabbing me. Distantly, I could hear Sophie screaming too and when the pain stopped, I lay on the floor, shaking.

"What about that respect, Nicole?" Malfoy asked. In response, I weakly spat at his feet as I sat up and his face contorted with rage.

"I gave you a chance," he hissed. "Clearly, pain doesn't seem to do anything to you. Bellatrix?"

"I'll enjoy this even more," she grinned and before I could stop her, she pointed her wand at Sophie and screeched, "_Crucio_!" Sophie writhed and thrashed around, screaming at the top of her lungs.

"Stop! Please! STOP!" I screamed and Bellatrix ended the curse. Sophie lay next to me, shivering and crying.

"Now then, Nicole, listen up because this is a one-time offer," Malfoy said silkily. "You can join us or we'll torture your sister and then kill her." He held out his hand and I stared at it.

_If I can distract them for long enough, I'll be able to Apparate away with Sophie! _I thought and I turned to Sophie.

"Obtenez le Dungbomb dans ma table de chevet et quand je dis, jeter," I murmured to her and she nodded furiously. I kissed her on the forehead, stood up and faced Malfoy.

"You win," I sighed and slowly stretched out my hand to take his. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sophie slowly edging towards my bedside table and saw that my own little distraction was working; no one noticed her.

"Hurry up, we don't have all night!" Rodolphus Lestrange snapped and I shot him a look of pure hatred. I saw Sophie signal that she had the Dungbombs and as I clasped Malfoy's hand, I shouted, "Jeter!" I pulled my hand away from Malfoy's and ducked just as Sophie threw a Dungbomb. It landed on the floor in front of Malfoy and as the Death Eaters coughed and tried to block the horrid smell, I grabbed Sophie tightly and took the Dungbombs.

"Accrochez-vous bien!" I said and when Sophie squeezed me to let me know that she had heard, I threw the rest of the Dungbombs and Apparated away, the last sound I heard being the Death Eaters' furious splutters.

Sophie and I ended up in James' street in Godric's Hollow and we walked the rest of the way, the house becoming visible as we passed the wards which recognised me as a friend. I became aware of a sharp pain in my leg and vaguely remembered hitting the bedside table while under the Cruciatus Curse. It didn't hurt enough to be broken but it hurt enough to make me limp slightly.

When we reached the front door, I knocked weakly and collapsed, the pain in my leg increasing. It didn't seem like anyone had heard, so I told Sophie to knock and this time, I heard footsteps.

"Who in Merlin is - Nicole! What's wrong? What are you doing here?" I felt James' strong arms pull me up and help me limp into the house as tears streamed down my face. He gently sat me down on a chair and I heard someone hurry into the kitchen.

"James! Who was it?"

"It's Nicole, Mum!"

"Nicole? What are you doing here?" But I couldn't answer; I was too upset and too shocked to say anything.

"Mum, can you make them some hot chocolate?" James asked and his mother must have nodded because I heard her hurrying around the room which, I slowly realised, was the kitchen.

"James! Who is - what are Nicole and Sophie doing here?"

"Siri!" I heard Sophie run past me and she must have jumped on Sirius because he made a small 'oomph' sound.

"Nicole? Nicole?" James gently shook me and I looked up to see him looking down concernedly at me, though his outline was a little blurred due to the tears in my eyes. "What happened?" I opened my mouth but no words came out and I ended up shaking my head wordlessly.

"Sophie, can you be a big girl and tell us exactly what happened?" Sirius asked Sophie gently and I saw that he had picked her up and she was nestling her face in his shoulder. She looked up and nodded.

"Well, I was going to sleep and I heard a loud noise so I opened my door and I saw these bad people hurting Maman and I wanted to do something but Nicki stopped me! And they shot a green light at her and Papa and they stopped moving, like they were asleep! Nicki told me to be quiet and hold on tight to her but then the bad men came in and made her scream and then -" She broke off and heaved a huge sob.

"They tortured her too," I whispered, my voice brittle in my throat. Mrs Potter gasped and I saw James and Sirius exchange murderous looks.

"It's bad enough that they'd do it to a teenager but to a child?" she said incredulously.

"What happened next?" I hadn't noticed Mr Potter enter the kitchen. Everyone looked at Sophie but she started to cry into Sirius' shoulder again and I had to continue the story.

"They offered me a place with them," I said hoarsely. "I used it to distract them while Sophie got my Dungbombs and we used them to get away."

"Oh dear, I'm so sorry," Mrs Potter said sympathetically, placing two steaming mugs of hot chocolate on the table. "Drink up, it will make you feel a lot better." Sirius slowly put a hiccupping Sophie down on another chair and handed her the mug, which she sipped from slowly.

"Maman…" she sniffed. "Papa…"

"With your mother and father gone, that means that you have to listen to Nicole, ok?" Sirius said to her quietly. "Will you be a big girl and comfort her and be good for her?" Sophie looked at him and nodded determinedly.

"I'll be a big girl," she said, crossing her arm over her chest. I smiled a watery smile.

While we drank our hot chocolates, Mrs Potter started arranging a room for us, asking if we had any relatives who could take care of Sophie while I was at Hogwarts.

"They all live in France," I replied. "My cousin, Luc, will be in his second year at Hogwarts and since he can't stay with us, Tante Marie and Oncle Alain might have to move here, which would be bad for Rosalie and Pauline because they go to Beauxbatons."

"Oh dear, that is a problem," Mrs Potter said worriedly.

"One of your cousins might be able to, wouldn't they?" Sirius frowned. "Remember Sacha, Nicolas and Mathieu? Could one of them be able to move here?"

"I'd have to ask," I said quietly.

"You and Dad can look after Nicole and Soph until then, can't you?" James said suddenly. "We have plenty of space, don't we?"

"Well, yes, that shouldn't be a problem," Mr Potter said after looking at his wife.

"Really?" I said gratefully. "You'd do that?"

"It would be our pleasure, dear," Mrs Potter smiled.

"Oh, thanks Mrs Potter." But James' mother gave me a stern look.

"None of that Mr and Mrs Potter stuff," she scolded. "It's Charlus and Dorea, ok?" I nodded. "Now, how about we get you girls off to bed? I think you two should sleep after your ordeal."

"I want to sleep with Siri," Sophie sniffed. "He'll keep the bad people away."

"Would you?" I looked at Sirius imploringly. "She's only four and the last thing I want is for her to have nightmares of Death Eaters."

"It's no problem, of course I'll do it," he said and I stood up and kissed him on the cheek gratefully in thanks.

Once I separated from the boys and my sister, I climbed into bed in the room next door to James and Sirius' room (they said that they preferred to share) and I fell asleep instantly.

_I'm running down the hallway of my house towards my room but it doesn't seem like I'm moving anywhere - the door refuses to come closer. My limbs turn to jelly and I fall down, only to see Bellatrix torturing my mother._

"_Avada Kedavra!" My mother screams and is still and then Bellatrix repeats it with my father. I can only watch in horror as my limbs feel heavy and I can't get up. Lucius Malfoy appears and points his wand at me, before his face turns into my father's, his eyes glazed white and his skin pale._

"_You did this to me, Nicole," he rasps, making his slow way over to me._

"_No! No I didn't!" I yell, trying to get up. Bellatrix turns into my mother, her eyes rolled up, her skin clammy and white._

"_You killed us, Nicole," she croaks._

"_No!"_

"_You killed us, Nicole," my parents sigh, my mother bending down and grabbing me. "Now we will do the same to you!" My dad slashes his wand at me and a flash of green light streaks towards me._

"NOOOOO!" I bolted up, screaming madly and I heard a door slam, before mine was opened.

"Nicole!" James and Sirius ran up to me and sat on the bed next to me as I shook heavily.

"Are you ok? Was it a nightmare?" James asked, rocking me back and forth, and I nodded.

"M-Maman…P-Papa…I killed zem," I sobbed, my accent returning in my distress.

"You did no such thing!" James said firmly.

"Oui, I d-did! I c-could have d-done somezing!" I sniffed.

"And what would have happened to Sophie?" Sirius said and I looked at him. "You did the right thing in getting Sophie out of there. What would've happened if you charged in and was killed?"

"S-Soph would be d-dead."

"Exactly. So be thankful that you at least got Soph out of there because there was nothing you could have done for your parents. And I know that they'd agree with me." Slowly, my sobs subsided as I realised that he was right; there was nothing I could have done for Maman and Papa without getting killed and then poor Sophie would never have made it.

"Y-You're right, Sirius."

"Do you want to sleep with me and see if that'll keep the nightmares away from you?" James asked me. "Not in that way!" he added hastily when Sirius and I stared at him. "We're just friends - no, siblings! You're like my sister and Sirius, Remus and Peter are like brothers to me - isn't that what siblings do?"

"Are you sure Lils won't mind?" I said with a weak smile.

"Under the circumstances, I think she'd force you in with me," James answered. "And besides, how do I know she'll even accept me this year? She's rejected me for the past six years."

"We'll just have to wait and see." I gave a watery chuckle and then James and Sirius led me to their room.

"She really likes you," I said as I watched Sirius get back into bed and Sophie instantly clung to him, despite the fact that she was asleep.

"I really hope she gets over it soon," he said, shaking his head.

"Aww, I find it cute," James grinned. "Paddy has a little four-year-old admirer."

"Ah, she's grown on me," Sirius shrugged, ignoring James. "She's cute and all but she's not my type."

"It's just a little childhood crush," I said. "I doubt that a four-year-old could fall in love."

"Anyway, shouldn't we be getting to sleep?" James suggested and I nodded as he climbed into bed and I followed, snuggling into his arms.

I knew that he didn't like me like that - in fact, I didn't like him like that too - but his embrace was comforting and when I fell asleep, the nightmares were only on the edge of my mind.

* * *

_**Translations:**_

_**- petite ange - little angel  
- Sur trois - On three  
- Obtenez les Dungbombs dans ma table de chevet et quand je dis, jeter - Get the Dungbombs in my nightstand and when I say, throw**_

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**Yeah, depressing chapter but still had to be done. Don't forget to vote in my poll!**

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	8. Shopping Sprees and Prank Wars

**A/N: Ok, I am getting massive writer's block (I'm generally a canon chick, except for Harry/Hermione…that is infinitesimally better than Harry/Ginny or Ron/Hermione…) so updates are slow and I will need your suggestions! Maybe suggest a scene or an idea for a chapter that I can put in…I am going to write a sequel and that's the only reason I'm writing this, to establish some background and everything. Also, that's why I've taken so long to update -_-**

**lilgenious: Oh, you're French? Well, thanks for the help! Like I said, I'm only in my second year of studying your wonderful language, so I do tend to make mistakes -_- Yes, I hated the dialogue too but I did get rid of it - I just felt that it was important to show her accent and I'm sorry for any inconvenience! Well, I kinda pictured Nicole as coming from around southern France and I thought that the name Nicole was French - you know, the whole 'e' for feminine thing -_- Maybe I shouldn't take advice from baby name sites…again, if I've got my facts wrong, I do apologise and hope I didn't offend you! **

**Bandia: Thanks :)**

**MsPaigeMeadows: Yeah, this happened in my original draft but I had to add in Sophie, since Ebony Tanner (Nicole's old character) was an only child -_- Anyway, thanks for reviewing! :)**

**dragonmia: Hmm, I rather like that Animagus form :) And thanks for the smiley! Here's another one for you :)**

**DeathByHanging: I know, it's sad :( But at least this shows that I'm willing to kill off characters that aren't actually evil, unlike a certain someone (coughStephenieMeyercough).**

**Disclaimer: Are you really so cruel as to make me say it? Well, I'm not. I don't want to see your satisfaction. So there :P**

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The next week wasn't all that fun. Remus and Peter had popped over the very next day, having gotten permission from their parents to stay over (not that it was uncommon), and Remus had been the one to comfort me the most, since he was actually the sensitive, empathic one out of the boys.

Out of pride, I'd declined sleeping with James after the first night but then I had nightmares every night which usually ended in me waking up to see Remus sitting over in concern, and it progressed to the point where he automatically climbed in next to me every night and hugged me to sleep. And the best bit was that he never left; I'd wake up every morning to see him next to me, breathing peacefully, and my stomach would lurch, leaving me to wonder exactly what the hell was going on with me.

I'd owled Lily, Marlene, Bella and Alice about it a few days afterwards and, after James had said that they could come over (I had to meet them at the wards though to admit them) the first thing they had done was to come over with a big bunch of red roses, which were my favourite flowers, and a large box of chocolates.

"Chocolate's the cure for anything!" Remus always said and I found he was right; the chocolates helped me focus as I told the girls everything that had happened, but the sweet brown stuff certainly didn't prevent my tears flowing.

"We're so sorry!" Alice said as I cried into Marlene's shoulder.

"Is there anything else we can do to help?" Bella said softly and I sort of half-shrugged. Lily was on the floor, drawing with Sophie and keeping her occupied while I spilled my heart out.

"What in Merlin's most baggy Y-fronts are they doing here?" Sirius' voice said and I noticed him, James, Remus and Peter on the staircase. James wasn't paying attention; I think he was just wondering what the hell he'd done to be so lucky as to have Lily Marie Evans in _his _house.

"We're taking Nic and Soph out for a girls' day!" Marlene said with a fierce glare as she pulled me up. "Now move it!" The boys hastened to obey and she smirked as she guided me up the stairs and into what had become my room, Bella, Lily, Alice and Sophie following.

"This won't do," she tutted and shook her head as she examined the clothes I'd been wearing; since Dumbledore had popped in the morning after _it_ had happened and warned me not to go back for a while, Sophie and I had had to make do with some of James and Sirius' clothes, which Marlene found offensive to the girl nature. I really couldn't help it; my trunk didn't have any Muggle clothes in it, only my school stuff, and Sophie didn't have any clothes either.

There was also no funeral for my parents; Dumbledore had visited my house briefly to assess the damage and look for my parents but there were no bodies – I suppose that was a vicious act on the part of the Death Eaters for refusing them, one that distressed me greatly.

Sacha and Jacques, who were still going strong, had volunteered to come and take care of Sophie but my sister had said that she wanted to stay with me until I went to Hogwarts and so they had contented themselves with searching for a suitable house to move into.

Oncle Pierre, Oncle Christophe, Tante Marie and Tante Adeline had been especially devastated at the news and had sent me big fat letters full of apologies that they couldn't do anything and fierce messages telling me not to blame myself for it. I knew that it had been especially hard on Oncle Christophe; he and Maman had been very close when they were children, since they were the two oldest out of the pack of five siblings.

"Well, what else am I s'posed to wear, Marls?" I said as I sank onto the bed and wiped my face. "I haven't exactly been on a major shopping spree, you know." Marlene, Alice, Lily and Bella exchanged excited looks and I groaned.

"Well, that's what we're doing today then!" Lily said firmly. I sighed – it was pointless to argue when they got like this.

After managing to make me look 'acceptable enough to be seen in public' (Marlene's words) by dressing me in a pair of Sirius' grey jeans (which had to be rolled up), one of James' shirts and Lily's denim jacket, they dragged me and Sophie downstairs and out the door. I only just managed to send a wave and mouth 'Help!' in the boys' direction before Alice pushed the door shut.

"Ok, we're going to London!" Marlene announced and I bit my lip; could we Apparate that far? Catching the look on my face, Alice said, "We can do it, Nic!"

"Do we really have to do that squeezy-thing?" Sophie groaned as I took her hand. "I don't like it!"

"Sorry, petite ange, but it's the only way," I said and turned on the spot with the girls. When we arrived in an alley in the Muggle world, poor Sophie would have fallen over if I hadn't grabbed her.

"We'll only have to do it one more time," Lily said to her sympathetically when she arrived. Sophie nodded and finally managed to stand up by herself as Marlene, Alice and Bella arrived.

"Come on!" And with that, Marlene dragged us other five girls to the first shop she could.

After hours of trying on every single piece of clothing that could possibly exist and being dressed up in a new outfit of a denim skirt, an off-the-shoulder pink T-shirt over a black singlet and black sandals, the girls insisted on going out for lunch in a nice little café on the corner of the street we ended up on.

"She'll have a cappuccino and a toasted ham and cheese sandwich, with a jam doughnut afterwards," Lily said for me when it was my turn to order and I smiled gratefully at her. See, those are true friends; they'll comfort you when your parents die, drag you on shopping sprees against your will and order exactly what you want for you when you're out for lunch. It really made me appreciate how lucky I was to have them.

"I never say this enough but you guys are the best," I said when the waiter moved away and Lily, Alice, Marlene and Bella beamed at me.

"And you're the best too, Nicki," Bella said sincerely, taking my hand. "You too, Soph." Sophie beamed up at Bella toothily.

"By the way, why do the boys call you Sage?" Alice said as our drinks were brought out. "I've always wondered that." Lily and I exchanged looks; these girls were great but I was also a Marauder and rule three of the Marauder Code stated that Marauders always kept each other's secrets.

"Why do you think?" Lily said.

"Oh right, the whole clever-girl teacher's pet thing," Marlene smirked and I flicked some foam at her. "Hey, watch it!"

"Fun! Fun!" Sophie giggled, throwing some of her hot chocolate foam at Marlene.

"Ok Soph, that's enough!" I laughed as Lily, Bella and Alice doubled over with laughter and Marlene scowled.

"Your food, ladies," the waiter said with a wink in Lily's direction. She giggled and, when he disappeared, whispered, "He's hot!"

"Not as hot as the Marauders," I decided.

"Well, you got that right," Bella nodded. "Peter's not that bad looking, Remus is hot, James is smouldering and Sirius is burning hot!" She turned pink.

"Amen," I nodded as Sophie said, "Yes! Siri hot!" through a mouthful of sandwich.

"Is there something you're not telling us?" Marlene frowned, studying Bella's reddening face. Bella shook her head and immersed herself in her food.

"Well, you're pretty darn cute too," Lily said to me quickly and I smiled. I knew that I was pretty, no point in denying it, but I wasn't one to brag and flaunt my looks, neither was I one to use makeup - I preferred a natural look and the most I ever use is a touch of lip gloss.

"I personally don't know why Remus doesn't date," Alice added, her brow furrowing. "I mean, he's a hottie!" I shifted; only the other Marauders, Lily and I knew that Remus was a werewolf, and that's not generally something that you project to the world.

"Maybe he just hasn't met that special someone," Lily suggested quickly and Alice nodded.

"Yes, that'll be it," she said and I sent a grateful look in Lily's direction.

"I don't know about you guys but I'm loving this," I said, steering us out of dangerous waters, as I took a bite of my sandwich. "We should do this another time."

"Yeah!" Sophie piped up, swinging her legs. "I like shopping with big girls!"

"You're cute, Soph," Alice smiled, ruffling my sister's hair. Sophie beamed brightly at her.

"This is nice, just the five of us sitting here," Bella sighed. "And who knows when we'll get to do this again?" The five of us and even Sophie grew silent at the mention of Voldemort and his Death Eaters, and the impending war.

"Your dessert," the waiter said as he returned and he laid down plates in front of us and took our old ones. He slipped something to Lily and mouthed something.

"What'd he give you?" Marlene all but squealed.

"His phone number," Lily replied, turning pink as she looked at the slip of paper. Bella and I gasped as Marlene and Alice looked confused and Sophie giggled furiously; sometimes, I swear that girl knows more than she lets on…

"Call him back!" Bella said.

"Don't," I winced. "James is seriously in love with you, if he hears about this then I'll never get another peaceful night."

"I'm not interested anyway," Lily shrugged as she put the paper in her pocket. "Now then, dig in, ladies!" We dug into our sweet stuff in a very unladylike manner and left the café five minutes later with full stomachs, after forcing Lily to pay the bill.

"Well, that's all my savings gone," she remarked cheerfully as we turned the corner. "I've been meaning to use that someday!"

After finding an alley, we bade each other goodbye and I Apparated Sophie and me home, the two of us pulling our bags together.

"You survived?" Sirius gasped in shock as we lugged all our bags in and I glared at him. "I mean, how was your lovely girl day?"

"Just fine, thanks," I said through my gritted teeth and Remus, Peter and James hastened to help as Sirius lounged on the couch with a lazy smirk.

"Those girls certainly went all out on you and Sophie," Dorea commented with a smile as she took over for us and Remus led me and Sophie to the couches.

"Well, you know, I didn't really get a choice," I said as I collapsed next to Sirius and Sophie sat on his lap.

"Are you hungry?" Dorea hustled downstairs and waved her wand to send five Butterbeers and a pumpkin juice in our direction.

"No, sorry, they took us out to lunch," I said with a small smile as I cracked my drink open and opened Sophie's juice for her. "And then the cute waiter started hitting on Lily." James spat out his Butterbeer and started choking as Sirius thumped him on the back.

"He _what_?" he gasped as he stopped coughing.

"Don't worry, she's not interested," I grinned and he sighed in relief.

"You really scared him, Sage!" Peter said admiringly as I smirked.

"I'm good enough to outshine any of you boys any day," I boasted and said boys spluttered indignantly.

"As if!" Sirius exclaimed. "I demand a prank war!"

"Oh, no," Dorea sighed as me, Remus, James and Peter grinned.

"You're on!" we all said and we split up.

"Soph, go colour in upstairs," I said but Sophie shook her head.

"I want to help! I want to help!" she said and I sighed, knowing that if she was anything like me (which she was), she'd never give in.

"Ok but you have to do what I say," I said and she nodded. _Well, you know it's bad if your four-year-old sister starts turning into a prankster._

As Sophie and I made our way towards the stairs, someone clamped their hand over my mouth and pulled me into a small alcove. Sophie yelped as the person grabbed her too.

"What do you say to teaming up with me?" Sirius asked as he released me. I glared at him.

"After the way you dragged me here?" I said with a raised eyebrow. "You'll be lucky if I go easy on you."

"Listen, if we team up, we'll be unstoppable," Sirius whispered. "And we'll even split the victory three ways!"

"Right, as if you'd keep that promise," I snorted and Sirius looked hurt as he pouted and gave me and Sophie the puppy dog eyes.

"Ok!" Sophie said immediately.

"Fine, I don't want you alone with my sister," I said and he glared at me.

"Just come on, I have a great idea," he said and we snuck into the kitchen, where he started pulling out an assortment of ingredients: Every Flavour Beans, tomato sauce, peanut butter, chocolate, normal butter and more things that I didn't want to even begin to name.

"What the hell are we doing with all this?" I said as Sirius ceased arranging the array of food and pulled out a bowl.

"Start pouring these in," he ordered and pulled out his wand to mix the ingredients as Sophie used her hands (she didn't seem to mind getting dirty) and I waved my wand. After ten minutes of solid mixing, we were left with a thick sludge that smelled absolutely rank.

"Alright, fill these up," he said and pulled a packet of balloons out of his pocket.

"Where'd you get those?" I said suspiciously but Sirius didn't answer. Oooh, I hated it when he did that! Sophie settled for using a spoon to pour the sludge into the balloons I tied the ends up.

"Water bombs, only instead of water…"

"Oooh, you're good," I grinned and he winked and turned to fill another balloon.

"Siri smart! Siri smart!" Sophie said and Sirius winked at her.

"There, all done," he said eventually and we gathered up our balloons.

"One tiny problem, Padfoot," I said as we made our way out into the backyard. "How exactly are we meant to throw these when our arms are full?" Sirius froze as the door banged shut behind us.

"Surprise!" James' voice said and I shrieked as a flying stone hit one of my balloons, making it burst over my chest.

"James Potter!" I screeched as the rest of my balloons burst as well, drenching me in the foul sludge. "Sirius Black, I'm going to kill you!" Sirius looked alarmed as rancid globs of rubbish started raining on us and I dove for cover into a bush, dimly registering that Sophie had disappeared.

"Hi there," a voice behind me said and someone's hand pressed on my mouth, while the other one snaked around my chest, pinning my arms to my side. I recognised the voice as Remus' and wondered how he'd gotten so ruthless while trying to keep any thought that he was hugging me away.

"I'm being smart," he smirked as I struggled, as if he could read my mind. "Sirius would never hit a girl, so by using you as a shield, he won't hit me." _Sexist!_

I had to hand it to Moony though – he'd really thought this through. Maybe he'd finally win one of these damn wars! Through the bushes, I could see Sirius throwing balloon after balloon at James and Peter, who were in the trees, while they piled rubbish onto him. Well, we were all going to need a shower tonight…

"Moony! Where are you?" Sirius called, a grin on his face. Remus forced me out of the bushes and into the open as he followed, placing himself behind me.

"Sage! How could you let yourself get captured?" Sirius gasped. I shook my head and shot him a glare but couldn't say anything; Remus' hand was still over my mouth.

"Surrender, Padfoot!" Remus grinned evilly. After a moment of silence -

"Alright, I surrender!" Sirius dropped his balloons as I licked Remus' hand.

"Eurgh!" He let me go and I dashed away but he started running around the yard, yelling, "I'm the Pranking King! Bow down to me!"

"Did someone go heavy-handed on the Cheering Charms again?" Peter asked as we watched Remus celebrating his victory.

"Nope," I said, shaking my head. "I think the euphoria of finally winning a prank war again has gotten to him."

"Seven years and this is the third one he ever wins," James snorted as he jumped down from his tree.

"Remember that one in our third year?" Sirius, James and Peter nodded with wide grins. Oh, that one had been so bad that even the teachers had been pranked, and I don't think they appreciated James' gift of Dungbombs. Well, if they show appreciation by giving you a month's worth of detentions, then they were very grateful indeed. Surprisingly, Peter had been the victor of that one; he'd gone and hidden himself until James, Sirius, Remus and I (don't ask - they dragged me into it…) got into trouble and then he slipped something down our shirts. Even today, I still don't know what that was and I wasn't so sure that I wanted to find out…

"Wait a minute!" Sirius yelled, making Remus stop. "Where's Sophie?" I heard an angelic giggling and then my devious little sister emerged from the bushes, throwing balloon after balloon at the five of us.

"Ok! We surrender!" Peter cried as we raised our arms and Sophie cheered.

"I don't believe it…" I said. "We were outpranked by a four-year-old…" The other boys just looked shocked and I knew that all of our prides had taken a hit.

"And a girl, no less," Sirius added and I hit him.

That night, after two showers each and a whole heap of cleaning spells, the five of us were stuck in James' room playing Truth or Dare while Sophie coloured in on the bed, wearing our homemade Pranking King (or Queen) crown and looking very pleased with herself.

"Alright, so we know the rules," James said as I waddled in, wearing two of everything. "If you don't want to complete a dare, you take off an item of clothing. When you get down to your underwear, you can't pass any more dares and you have to do them, no matter what they are." He passed around five cups of liquid that I recognised to be our version of a truth potion - if you told a lie, it covered you in bright pink polka dots until you told the truth.

"Why are you wearing two of everything?" Peter piped up as I sat next to Sirius.

"I certainly don't want to strip down to my bra!" I said with a pink face.

"Sorry Nicole, not allowed," Remus smirked.

"I have rights! I'm the only female in this joint, apart from Sophie and Dorea!" I said but Sirius raised an eyebrow and I huffed as I took off a shirt and a pair of pants.

"Moony gets to go first, as he was the almost victor today," James decided. Remus huffed and Sophie giggled at the almost victor part as we all swigged from our cups and waited for the potion to take effect - it lasted for several hours, so there was no need for an antidote.

"Sage, truth or dare?" Remus finally said.

"Dare," I said confidently.

"I dare you to go around and snog each of us," he said and I turned red.

"No! I won't do it!" I shrieked but in all honesty, it wasn't that bad. I mean, we could come up with more horrifying ones, like the one in our fourth year…No! I have to forget about that! I swallowed my pride, turned to Peter and pressed my lips to his.

"Come on, we want to see some tongue!" James cried as I backed away and Peter smiled while turning bright red. I turned to Sirius and kissed him. Actually, he wasn't all that bad – in fact, he was quite pleasant to kiss and he certainly had experience.

"Please don't tell Bella," I begged and he just smirked.

"I hope you all know that my heart belongs to my Lily-flower!" James declared as I leaned in.

"Like you haven't said that a million times before," I muttered as I gave him a quick kiss. Now it was Remus' turn. Oh Merlin, help me! How many times had I fantasised about this? Wait, _what_? Fantasising about _kissing _my _best friend_? I couldn't like him! Could I?

Remus gently cupped my face as I leaned in and lightly kissed him. His tongue pressed, wanting entry, so I let him in and it started exploring my mouth. And then it was my turn. His mouth admitted my tongue and I felt every inch. He tasted like the chocolate cake we'd had for dessert and I thought _Man, is he a good kisser! How has he not done this before?_

"Ok, that's enough!" James said and I broke away as I realised what I was doing, my face furiously red. The other boys were sharing smirks with each other, which made me nervous; who knew what scheme they were cooking up? The Sophie-devil was giggling on the bed as she selected a pink crayon.

"Nicki likes Remmy! Nicki likes Remmy!" she cackled and Remus' and my faces went even redder, if possible.

"I do not!" I said hotly.

"Nicki likes Remmy! Nicki likes Remmy!"

"Sophie is awesome!" Sirius let out his bark-like laugh and Sophie beamed and returned to her drawing.

"Ok Sage, hit us," James grinned as my face started going from furiously red to pale red, while Remus was determinedly not looking at me.

"Prongs, truth or dare?" I muttered.

"Dare."

"I dare you to go up to Severus when we get back to Hogwarts and confess your undying love for him." James looked like he was going to die from the horror as Sirius, Remus and Peter roared with laughter.

"I pass! I pass!" James shrieked, ripping off his shirt and throwing it away so that we could see his muscly chest.

"Moony, truth or dare?" he said.

"Truth," Remus said.

"Who do you like?"

_Lame_, I thought.

"I - I -" Remus looked like he was trying to stop himself from talking and ended up clapping his hand to his mouth, muffling his voice. We knew that he'd spoken the truth because he didn't have any dots on him - the potion didn't take effect if you muffled your voice or found a way to say it without others hearing.

"Aw, man!" James sighed.

"But that means that he does like someone!" Sirius crowed. "Who's the lucky lady, Moony?" Remus turned bright red and I felt a stab of an unidentifiable emotion in my stomach that left me reeling.

"Ok, go Moony," I ordered and he shot me a grateful look.

"Wormtail, truth or dare?"

"Truth!" Peter immediately said.

"Did you have a crush on Bella in our fifth year?" Remus said and Peter turned pink.

"Yes!" The rest of us hooted with laughter as he went from pink to red.

_I SO have to tell her that! _I thought.

"I thought so!" Sirius said but he didn't even sound angry. "I mean, you were always looking at her and you'd turn red when she talked to you and –"

"Sage, truth or dare?" Peter quickly said.

"Hey, Sirius isn't getting picked on!" I protested but sighed as Sirius smirked and I said, "Dare."

"I dare you to sit in Remus' lap!" Peter said, looking immensely proud of himself.

"What is this, Hook Nicole up with Remus Day?" I squawked indignantly. I was about to refuse but he had slept with me for the past few nights (get your minds out of the gutter, James and Sirius!), even if it was only to comfort me…so sitting in his lap couldn't be any worse. Right? I edged over and Remus lifted me into his lap.

"Padfoot, truth or dare?"

"Dare," he said. This was my big chance! I could get him to do whatever I wanted!

"I dare you to dress like a girl for a whole day when we get back to Hogwarts and tell Professor Slughorn that you have loved him for years," I smirked and Sirius instantly passed. Oh, I was good!

"What's with you and this love stuff?" James said.

"What can I say? I'm a girl," I grinned.

"Prongs, truth or dare?" Sirius said. Our game passed in this vein for hours, until it was midnight and the potion was about to wear off.

"One last person," James yawned. Sophie was snoring softly on Sirius' bed, Peter was asleep and Remus was nodding off on my shoulder (making my stomach kick up a storm), so it was only me and Sirius to choose from. "Um…Sage! Truth or dare?" Too tired to register what I was saying, I yawned and said, "Truth." James' face immediately lit up and I thought _Oh, crap_. Why'd I just say that? I'd been avoiding the truths all game!

"Ok Nicole…who do _you_ like?" he smirked. My eyes widened and I managed to press my discarded shirt (yes, I was in my bra among a group of hormonal teenage boys. Oh, joy) to my mouth as I answered.

"Aww, no fair!" Sirius whined as I abruptly stood up and bolted down the hall to my room, before climbing into the bed and managing to fall asleep in a few minutes. Remus wasn't with me, but for the first time since the attack of the Death Eaters, I didn't have nightmares. Instead, my dreams were full of a certain someone and when I woke up the next morning, my face was bright red.

* * *

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	9. Lily and James are WHAT? This'll be fun

**A/N: God…I am SO sorry for leaving all of you hanging like that! I've just had major writer's block (I'm not so good with original stories - in the HP world, I class them as stories like this, where you make up the plot and all) and then Mana (my best friend, in case any of you have forgotten) came down with the flu for the entire school holidays and now school's back, so I haven't had time. **

**Ok…I really do suck at proper storylines, so I might continue with the previous chapters' outline and just write the really important chapters.**

**Also, I am changing the title of this story; I'm worried that it sounds too much like Maddaz a Hatter's story My name is Sophia This is My Story.**

**One more thing: to any of you here who are rea****ding Mana's and my previously co-authored story (Harry and Olivia), she has told me to apologise for her as she's having PS writer's block.**

**Review responses will be at the end of this chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I own this. I own all of it.**

**JKR: No you don't!**

**Me: Yes I do!**

**JKR: (takes out machine gun) Take that!**

**Me: Ok, ok, you own it! (dodges bullets)**

* * *

The rest of August mainly consisted of pranking, going out with the girls, pranking, spending time with Sophie and even more pranking but that routine was disrupted by a letter from Tante Apolline and Oncle Pierre.

The girls were over again and Lily, Marlene, Alice and I had been chatting while Sophie read a kid's book we'd gotten her, James, Remus and Peter did Merlin-knows-what and Sirius and Bella were off somewhere (yeah, the others found out - well, you can't keep secrets from any of us, that's for sure).

"Mon dieu!" I exclaimed when I had read through the letter.

"What is it?" Lily demanded as the boys poked their heads in and Sirius and Bella came downstairs.

"Tante Apolline has had a baby!" I said happily - I was finally back to normal after the attack; well, almost. I still thought about it sometimes but it was slowly getting easier to forget about it.

"Tante Apolline?" Sophie looked up. "What is it?"

"A girl," I smiled, reading through the letter again. "They called her Fleur Isabelle."

"Hey, that's like my name!" Bella said.

"Fleur?" Peter said. "That sounds pretty! What does it mean?"

"Flower," I chuckled. "Actually, that's funny."

"What is?" James frowned.

"Fleur Delacour can also be said like fleur de la cour, which translates to flower of the court," I said, smiling at the pun - no doubt it had been intentional on Tante Apolline's part.

"Well, with a name like that, she'll be a looker!" Sirius whistled and Bella narrowed her eyes at him. "Not that she could ever be prettier than you!" he added hastily and Bella smiled sweetly.

"Whipped!" Marlene coughed.

"Do you need a cough drop, Marls?" Bella asked in mock-concern.

"No, I'm fine thanks," Marlene smiled innocently.

"Well, I would think that she'd be a looker," I said, "seeing as her mother is half-Veela."

"You have a quarter-Veela cousin now?" Sirius said. "Man, I can imagine her…" Bella cleared her throat.

"You know, I think I'll take Sirius away and make him forget all about this 'Fleur Delacour' who is clearly my competition," Bella said, taking Sirius' hand and pulling him away.

"You think they'll finally shag?" James said when they'd gone.

"James!" I hissed. "Not in front of _her_!" _Her _was looking at us with an adorably innocent face.

"What does shag mean?" Sophie asked in a voice as innocent as her expression and the others burst out laughing, even more so at my horrified expression.

"Ah, never mind," I said awkwardly. "You'll understand when you're older, Soph."

"Is shag a bad word?" she said.

"For you, it is."

"Ok then."

_Crisis averted! _But I thought that too soon as she stood up, took a deep breath and started running around, yelling, "Shag! Shag! Shag!"

"Sophie Jacqueline Martin!" I screeched as the others laughed even harder - Lily, Marlene and Alice were on the floor, howling.

"Shag, shag, shag!" And with that, she started running through the whole house.

"Maman would have a fit," I murmured, slumping down. "And don't you laugh, James! What do you think your mother will do when she finds out that you put her up to this?" James sobered instantly but that only served to make the others laugh louder.

"Excuse me? Why does this young lady have such a foul mouth?" Dorea had brought a still-chanting Sophie back and I cast a Silencio on her, making her glare at me.

"It was James' fault!" I said. "He wondered if Sirius and Bella would finally, um - what Sophie said. And then she just started!" James looked like a deer caught in headlights (hehe…) as Dorea turned her gaze to him and he gulped.

"Now, Mum, let's be reasonable, shall we?" he laughed nervously. "I mean, I am your favourite son…" He trailed off as I muttered, "You're her only son," and then Dorea started to laugh before striding over and handing Sophie back to me. My sister crossed her arms as I flicked my wand at her and refused to look or talk at me but had to finally forgive me when I threatened her with no dessert tonight unless she stopped sulking.

_I hope Maman's proud of me, _I thought, coaxing Sophie to give me a hug.

-NM-

Bella confessed to us later that she had indeed 'done it' with Sirius, which I was fine with. However, I put my foot down when she started going into detail about it and when she ignored me, I promptly fled from the room and sought refuge with the boys.

I was also confused about my feelings concerning Remus; one minute, I'd be laughing at a joke he'd told and the next, I'd be trying to squash down unidentifiable feelings and refusing to even look at him! I didn't know what the heck was going on!

I got a pleasant surprise when we received our Hogwarts letters and I saw that I had been made a prefect which could only mean one thing: Lily was Head Girl.

"I'm Head Boy!" James exclaimed, holding up a badge.

"Good on you, Prongs!" Sirius crowed, slapping James on the back. "Now we'll never get into trouble!"

I noticed that Remus looked a little down at not making Head Boy so I moved closer and put my hand on his - for once, I didn't blush at any physical contact, which had been going on for weeks now.

"Don't worry about it," I smiled. "Think of it this way: James will finally become more responsible! And besides, we should be happy for Prongs; that's rule five of the Marauder Code!" Remus chuckled and looked happier.

"You're right," he said. "At least we'll get to patrol together." I smiled back, before realising what he'd said and turning red. I didn't tell the others that I got the prefect's badge; I wanted to see the looks on their faces when they realised that Lily was Head Girl.

Lily, Marlene, Alice and Bella, who had taken to hanging out here a lot over August (which, as far as I was concerned, was James' dream come true) had decided to hold a small party in the backyard on the last day of the holidays - it would only be us girls, the boys and Sophie.

I ended up wearing a denim skirt and knee-length leggings with a three-quarter lavender wrap-around top and black flats, while Sophie just wore a pink dress of hers and went barefoot. Lily wore a green blouse and black skirt, Marlene had on a pair of jeans and a red top, Bella wore a short red dress and Alice had on a knee-length soft pink dress.

The party was very quiet; we got our music from a wireless radio that Dorea had and she had made us a variety of finger foods and drinks - in fact, it was more of a get-together.

"I can't believe we only have one year left," Lily sighed as we girls sat on the grass together, clutching bottles of Butterbeer - Sophie was off playing with the boys and I feared for her health.

"I know, it seems like the past six years have just flown!" Bella agreed, swigging from her bottle. I was about to add something when Sophie came running towards me, crying.

"Petite ange! What's wrong?" I said worriedly, hugging her.

"My - my mouth burns!" she howled. "The boys - they gave me something really hot to drink and said that I'd be a big girl if I drank it!"

"They gave you _Firewhisky_?" I hissed. "Oh, that is it. Lils, hold Soph." Lily took Sophie off me with a small smirk and I stood up and stormed towards the boys.

"Oh, hello Sage!" Sirius said brightly.

"Don't you 'oh, hello Sage!' me!" I roared. "What were you _thinking_, giving a four-year-old Firewhisky?"

"Erm - would you believe us if we said it was an experiment?" Peter squeaked. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"I think that's a no, Wormtail," James stage-whispered.

"For the record, I just want to add that I had absolutely nothing to do with this," Remus said hastily and his amber eyes made it hard for me to disbelieve him.

"I believe you," I heard myself saying. "But you three…!" James, Sirius and Peter looked scared.

"Moony, should we run?" James said.

"I think you should," Remus grinned and as I let out a feral roar and ran at the boys, they started yelling and bolted around the yard.

After half an hour of chasing the three boys, my energy levels were very low and I finally admitted defeat and collapsed onto the grass, panting heavily. The girls had grown bored and gone home about an hour ago and Dorea had obviously carried Sophie up to bed, so it was just me and the five boys outside.

"I'm going - to bed," I panted, pushing myself up and staggering inside. "I hate - you guys!" I didn't hear their reply as I trekked up the stairs and up to my room, where I fell onto my bed and fell asleep, not even changing. I certainly regretted that the next day…

-NM-

"Nicole! Mrs Dorea says that you have to get up 'cause it's nine!" Sophie sang. I murmured something indistinguishable and sat up. Through bleary eyes, I saw my sister's figure in the door and she ran off when she saw me moving, no doubt to terrorise the boys.

_Ok, so it's nine, _I thought. _Why is that important? _Suddenly, I remembered last night. _Of course! Today's the day I go back to Hogwarts!_

Knowing that I had an hour and a half to get ready, I bolted out of bed and sprinted to the bathroom, where I let out a scream. My eyes looked like panda eyes! I'd been too tired to scrub my eye makeup off last night!

I spent ten minutes frantically rubbing at my face furiously to remove the makeup, before having a quick shower, dressing hastily and sprinting downstairs to eat a quick breakfast. By then, it was nine thirty and all the boys except for Sirius were up, as was Sophie.

"Good morning, sunshine," James smirked as I stuffed some toast in my mouth.

"Ru'ing late!" My voice was muffled around the toast and James, Remus and Peter snickered.

"Has anyone woken Sirius up?" Dorea said but she was saved the need of sending someone up to wake him when he trudged downstairs, yawning.

"What's the time?" he murmured sleepily.

"Nine thirty, mate," James snorted and Sirius' eyes widened.

"Nine thirty! I'm late!" And he bolted upstairs.

"Oh, come on!" I said.

"You know Padfoot, Sage," Peter grinned. "He takes an hour just to do his hair!"

"I heard that!" Sirius called from upstairs and I snorted.

"I guess I'd better pack for you boys, seeing as how you value your food so much!" I jumped up and flew upstairs and when I entered the boys' room, where I'd kept my trunk (since I was nearly always in there anyway), I heard someone come in behind me.

"Need a hand?" Remus chuckled. I tried not to blush; at least _he _was a gentleman, unless some others I could name…

"Please." We moved our wands in a large sweeping motion and the boys' junk flew pell-mell into the trunks, after which we shut the lids.

"Thanks," I smiled, stowing my wand away. Remus just smiled in reply. "At least _you're _clean and put your clothes away and I don't have to worry about a pair of your underpants ending up in my trunk." Realising what I'd said, my cheeks burned bright red and Remus, also red-faced, determinedly looked anywhere but me. A few moments passed before he broke the silence.

"Has anyone ever told you how pretty you are, Sage?" That just served to make me even redder.

"Well, you're not so bad-looking yourself, Moony." Almost unconsciously, we moved closer to each other, staring into each other's' eyes. Our lips were just about to touch when Sirius Bloody Black called out, "At last! My hair is perfection!" The spell was broken and we hurriedly backed apart, looking around awkwardly.

"Well…I guess we'd better get downstairs," I muttered.

"Yes, we'd better." Remus sounded as embarrassed as I felt. We hurried out and down the stairs, levitating the trunks, and I noticed that Remus kept sneaking glances at me when he thought I wasn't looking - that just served to increase my embarrassment.

"Oho! Did something happen?" Sirius said, looking at our faces and wiggling his eyebrows.

"No. Now shove it," I glared and he shoved a piece of toast into his mouth quickly - everyone knew not to mess with me or any of the girls, though that didn't stop them from doing so.

"Nicki, why is your face all red?" Sophie asked curiously, munching on some cereal, and I had to resist the urge to snap at the innocent girl.

"I'm hot," I responded and I saw Remus go even redder, though why was beyond me.

"Well, Moony certainly thinks so!" Peter piped up and I shot him a famous Nicole Martin death glare.

"Shut it." Luckily, I was spared any more embarrassment by Dorea, who chose that moment to enter the kitchen.

At a quarter to eleven, we grabbed our trunks, I said goodbye to Sophie and gave her a big hug and we Apparated to the station with Dorea - little kids aren't really meant to Side-Along Apparate and the only reason I did so before was because we were desperate.

"Stay safe," Dorea said once we'd made it onto the platform and she started giving us all hugs - Remus and I got caught twice and being pressed up against him while James' mother hugged us made me break out into redness again.

"If you were any redder, you'd be a tomato!" Peter said to me once I'd managed to extract myself from Dorea, who promptly caught James.

"If you were any fatter, you'd be Oncle Alain," I retorted meanly and then realised what I'd said when Peter looked down.

"That was really mean, Nicole," Remus frowned.

_Great…I've made Moony upset…wait, why do I care what he thinks?_

"Sorry, Wormtail," I sighed. "I just - it's been a stressful morning, yes?" When he nodded, I caught him in a hug and whispered, "Sorry," again to him. When I let him go, I noticed Remus giving Peter the evil eye and I wondered what he was so upset about.

"What's with you?" I frowned at him. He blushed and looked away.

"Nothing," he muttered.

"Come on or all the good compartments'll be taken!" Sirius hollered, once again breaking a moment, and I growled softly and pushed my trunk to where he was standing.

"What's got your knickers in a knot, Sage?" he said.

"You," I glared, levitating my trunk into the compartment and leaving Sirius looking very bewildered. Why couldn't I get some time alone with Remus without being interrupted? I promptly turned red upon thinking that and wondered if any almighty beings up there were taking pleasure out of making my life a misery.

A few minutes before the train set off, Marlene, Alice and Bella joined me, Sirius, Remus and Peter and Peter asked where Lily was.

"You mean Lily and Nicole didn't tell you?" Bella blinked, sitting on Sirius' lap.

"Tell us what?" Sirius said suspiciously, looking at me.

"Oh, they must have forgotten, what with everything going on," Marlene chuckled.

"You could say that," I smirked.

"Just tell us already!" Peter half-shouted.

"Nicole's a prefect!" Alice announced. There was a silence before Peter stammered, "But…but that means…"

"Lily's Head Girl," I grinned. The boys suddenly burst out laughing, even Remus, who knew.

"Does someone want to tell us what's so funny?" Marlene said, annoyed at being left out of an inside joke.

"James made Head Boy!" I snickered and the three boys descended into another fit of laughter, us girls joining them this time.

"Two Galleons that Lily murders him by the end of the year!" Sirius grinned when we'd all settled down.

"Padfoot…that's the most stupid bet I've ever heard," I said. "Of _course_ she'll murder him!"

"Well, you can't say this won't be an eventful year," Alice sighed.

"Speaking of Head Boys and Girls, we have to get to the prefect's compartment, Sage," Remus said.

"Oh yeah, I totally forgot!" I said. The two of us stood up, grabbed our trunks and left the compartment, saying goodbye to the others.

"Tell us what happens with James and Lils!" Marlene called out as the train started moving and I grinned at her and hurried to catch up with Remus.

The small meeting we had there was pretty uneventful, except for Lily and James trying to give us a speech about our responsibilities without murdering each other - if I had a Galleon for every time Lily shot James a glare, I'd be a millionaire.

"They actually weren't bad this year," Remus commented as we patrolled the train together. "James did start pulling his head in last year - if she still hated him, she'd have struck him down on the spot."

"You're right," I frowned, nodding - Lily did seem to be a bit nicer to James this year, though you could only see it if you were friends with them, like me and Remus.

Once we'd done a length of the train, we returned to our friends, who were enjoying a hearty feast of sweets, and it was only then that I realised exactly how hungry patrolling made you.

"Chocolate!" Remus said in delight, snatching a Chocolate Frog and ripping it open while we all stared at him.

"What?" he said, swallowing his bite of chocolate. "I love chocolate!" We all nodded slowly.

When we arrived at Hogsmeade station, the girls ran to claim a carriage and left me with Sirius, Remus and Peter to get into another one and wait for James. We didn't have to wait long.

"Lily's Head Girl!" he exclaimed as soon as he'd hopped in. "My dream's come true - I get to spend more time with Lily!" Sirius and I were snickering, until James turned to me.

"Why didn't you tell me you got that prefect's badge, Nicole?" he said accusingly, pointing to the badge on my robes.

"Ah…surprise?" I laughed, scratching the back of my head. James gave me a look that quite clearly promised payback was on the way.

For once, I agreed with Sirius and Peter's sentiments that the Sorting should hurry up - I was starving! When, "Wright, Caleb," went to Hufflepuff and Professor Dumbledore announced that the feast would begin, I cheered with the boys and dug in.

"I never thought you were the type to be uncivilised, Nikki," Lily said, staring as I shoved a potato in my mouth.

"Prefect duty makes me hungry!" was my reply when I'd swallowed my food - I may not have been eating in a very ladylike way but I did know basic manners, unlike _some_ boys I could name…

After all the desserts disappeared, Dumbledore stood up, gave us the usual announcements (do not go into the Forbidden Forest, magic in the corridors is forbidden, etc.) and then dismissed the students.

"Should we take care of the first years or should we let Ben and Charlotte handle it?" I asked Remus, referring to Ben Lewis and Charlotte Bolton, the fifth year Gryffindor prefects.

"Let's ask them," he suggested and after Ben and Charlotte assured us that they could handle the first years, Remus and I told Sirius, Peter, Bella, Marlene and Alice the password, left the Great Hall and took one of the secret passages to Gryffindor Tower.

"Are you going to bed?" I asked as we told the Fat Lady the password (Leon) and entered the common room.

"I think I might do some reading," Remus replied and I stared at him.

"Moony - it's the first day back."

"Your point is?" I shook my head slowly.

"Well, I'm going to bed," I said and I bade him goodnight and made my way to the seventh year girls' dormitories, where I changed and waited for the girls. I soon heard them making their way up the stairs.

"I can't believe Lily has to share quarters with James!" Bella was saying as they entered. "Oh, hey Nicole!"

"What's this about Lily and James sharing quarters?" I said in amusement as Alice pulled her robes off and slipped into her nightgown.

"The Head Boy and Girl have to share quarters," Marlene smirked, pulling her pants on. "Lily didn't like that."

"I don't know, she seems a little more tolerant of James this year," Alice frowned. "And she wasn't all that bad at James' house."

"Maybe she's trying to keep up public appearances," I said. "Or maybe she's falling for him and is trying to hide it."

"Definitely the second one," Bella grinned, jumping onto her bed. "Lil's never been one to care about what others think of her."

"True," I conceded.

We chatted about the boys for a while (me carefully dodging any questions about me and Remus) and soon we settled down and fell asleep.

_Seventh year, here I come, _I thought before my eyes shut.

* * *

**Yeah, I can't write proper romance scenes - sue me, why don't you?**

**Spottedmask12: Thanks :) Here's your update! Again, sorry it's so late… **

**DeathByHanging: Yeah, I'll try and put more of those scenes in but like I said, I fail at romance XD**


	10. I hate you, Aphrodite!

**A/N: Sorry about the late update and all! I was lucky to upload chapter 9 because Mana's internet crashed and I rely on her for it and I had to post from my phone, so I haven't been able to upload this one. Mana's next door neighbour is currently letting us use her computer :)**

**Also, I'd like to give credit to MsPaigeMeadows, who designed the dresses here. You can view them to going to this address:**

_** cgi /set?id=57394095**_

**Awesome job, MsPaigeMeadows! :) Although I did mix and match the dresses a bit, so you'll have to look a bit to see which dress each girl is wearing, since they were just ideas.**

**Spottedmask12: Thank you :) I'm working on the romance, it's just hard to not make it all cheesy and romance is SO not my strong suit -_-**

**Disclaimer: If I owned the series, why would I be writing a free fanfiction here?**

* * *

September, October and November passed with not a lot of excitement, except for Sirius and Bella disappearing on us all the time, James trying to act mature for Lily and me and Remus having awkward moments all the time.

It was driving me mad; I wished I could talk to Maman and Papa but they were gone, so my next option was Tante Apolline - she was best with this stuff - but I didn't want to do that just yet. She'd probably go around telling the whole family and then Sacha, Nicolas and Mathieu would tease me relentlessly. It was bad enough that Luc was starting to notice that something was up and he could be very annoying when he wanted to be.

It was very lucky that Luc had gone to stay with a friend when the attack happened because I didn't know if I'd have been able to escape with both him and Sophie.

Speaking of Sophie, she had met a Muggle boy called Jesse Roberts and the two of them had become fast friends. In her next letter, she enclosed a drawing of him and her and went on about how nice he was and what a good friend he was.

_Bring out the wedding dress, _I thought jokingly as I showed Sirius the letter on a cold November morning.

"Maybe she'll finally leave me alone!" he sighed in relief.

"Be nice, Sirius!" Bella glared.

"Sorry, Bells," he said and James snorted into his breakfast. Remus met my eye, grinning, and then we looked away, red-faced. Now I was sure I liked him - but what the hell did I do?

_I'll have to write to Tante Apolline, _I thought resignedly and that evening, I wrote a quick letter outlining all my feelings and asking for advice and sent it off with Rose - since Tante Apolline was half-Veela, she understood love better than anyone else I knew. I got a letter a few days later, which basically went on about how proud she was of me for finding a boy that I liked and asking what he was like. Her advice then read:

_Tell him how you feel, Nicole. He may be your best friend but if you cannot even look at him without getting embarrassed, you will begin to drift apart. The worst that can happen is that he does not like you back. If he does like you, you will be forever glad that you told him._

It was actually good advice; I noticed that Remus was awkward around me too and I resolved to tell him my feelings - I just had to actually pluck up the courage first.

There was one problem though; Amos Diggory had apparently decided that I was to be his girlfriend and he kept following me around, passing me notes and giving me flowers. Whenever this happened, I noticed Remus would glare at Amos like he wanted to skin him alive.

Amos was getting on my nerves, never leaving me alone, and I finally snapped one day in late November.

"Leave me alone!" I screeched, slapping him when he tried to put his arm around me. "I don't like you!"

I got a detention but it was worth it to see the look on Remus's face - he looked ecstatic. Of course, Amos didn't get the message and still tried to get me, though he was more subtle now and backed off.

"Remus?" I said one night in the common room. He looked at me. "Could you help me with my Potions essay? There's something I don't understand." He smiled happily moved next to me on the sofa to read my parchment. When his hand brushed against mine, my stomach churned and my face heated up, though he didn't seem affected.

My plan was to spend a bit of time with him tonight and then finally tell him how I felt, but it wasn't that easy.

"…and if you add the shrivel figs before the tears, the potion will be useless," Remus said and then looked at me. "Nicole?" I snapped out of my daze - I had been staring at him.

"Hmm?"

"Did you even hear any of that?"

"Erm…no. Sorry."

"Are you ok, Sage?"

_Tell him how you feel…tell him how you feel…_

"I'm fine," I heard my mouth say, so Remus started explaining it to me over again.

_Damn it, Nicole, what's wrong with you? _

I didn't end up telling him that night and I didn't get another chance to for a while; if Sirius wasn't ruining moments, he was snogging Bella and I didn't think it would be very appropriate to tell Remus then.

A week later, Lily told me, Marlene, Alice and Bella some news while we were in Lily's room in the Head Boy and Girl quarters.

"We're holding a Christmas ball!" she burst out. "I came up with the idea at our meeting and Professor Dumbledore approved it!" The five of us squealed excitedly and then talk turned to dates and dresses.

"I'm definitely going with Sirius," Bella said happily. "Who else would I go with?"

"You're not going with Amos Diggory, are you?" Marlene said to me slyly and I threw a pillow at her.

"I swear he's stalking me!" I groaned, making the other girls burst out laughing. "Oh, shut up!"

"Frank's going to take me for sure," Alice beamed. "I'm sure James would be happy to go with you, Lils!"

"No! I don't like that arrogant toerag!" Lily said loudly but we laughed at her. "Ok…maybe he is more mature." I decided not to tell her that the reason he was becoming more mature was because of her; it wasn't my place.

"I bet Remus would love to take Nicole," Bella smirked and received a pillow in the face too.

"So, what's with you and him?" Marlene leaned forwards eagerly.

"I -"

"You like him, don't you?" Alice said.

_Damn girls, _I thought before nodding, prompting another wave of squeals.

"Well, tell him, girl!" Marlene said. "What is wrong with you?"

"I keep trying to but Sirius ruins the moment!" I wailed. "If he's not being himself, he's snogging Bella!"

"Whoops, sorry," Bella grinned, though she didn't look very sorry.

"I have a plan," Alice said, a grin sliding over her face. "Go with him to the Christmas Ball, Nicole." I opened my mouth to interrupt but she held up a hand. "We girls will keep the boys happy - I'm sure Marlene would be happy to go with Peter -"

"What?" Marlene burst out and Alice shot her a look. "But…you don't _have _to have a date, do you?"

"No but good luck trying to dance then," Bella smirked.

"Well…I'll keep him occupied but I am _not _going with him."

"He'll probably be at the snack table anyway," Lily put in.

"Good," Alice smirked. "Like I was saying, we'll keep the boys occupied and you and Remus can sneak off and have some alone time without any interruptions!"

"That is the worst plan I've ever heard," I groaned. "Knowing you, Al, it'll work like a charm." Any crazy plan that Alice had come up with in the past had ended up working, something that constantly had me baffled.

"So it's settled!" Alice clapped her hands. "I'm going with Frank, Bella can keep Sirius busy, Marls or the snack table will occupy Peter and Lils -"

"No," Lily said suddenly. "I am _not _dancing with Potter."

"But you just said he'd matured!" Alice said exasperatedly.

"Doesn't mean I want to date him!"

"Denial!" Bella sang. By the way Lily's face flushed, we knew that Bella had hit onto the problem.

"You _do _like him!" Alice said accusingly. "You just don't want to admit it!"

"No!"

"Yes!" we other girls chorused.

"No!"

"Yes!"

"How long is this going to go on for?" I groaned as Lily shot back and forth with Marlene, Alice and Bella.

As the week went on, I noticed Sirius acting a little oddly around Bella and he'd often go off with James, Remus and Peter, something that had me suspicious. I thought that Sirius might be cheating on Bella but dismissed that thought; I knew what Sirius was like when cheating on someone and he definitely wouldn't go off with the other Marauders.

On the next Hogsmeade visit, two weeks before the ball, we went shopping and managed to find some very nice dresses for ourselves. As we exited the shop, I noticed Sirius leaving a jewellery shop, looking around as if hoping not to be seen. When he spotted Bella, he bolted and I narrowed my eyes. What was going on with Sirius?

Sophie was absolutely delighted when I wrote to her about the ball and at one point, she even asked if I was going with Remus.

"What're you reading?" his voice said from behind me and I stuffed the letter into my bag, my cheeks flaming red.

"Letter from Sophie," I managed to force out before abandoning my breakfast. If even my four-year-old sister could see it, then how could he not? I was half-hoping he'd say something to me first but knew that it was unlikely.

That night, when I was reading with the girls in the common room, Remus approached me, looking very nervous about something.

"Come on, we have something to do," Alice said suddenly, pulling Bella and Marlene up.

"We do?" Bella blinked and then gasped when Alice's hand tightened.

"Yeah! I remember that - that thing we have to do!" Marlene said suddenly and allowed Alice to pull her away so that I was alone.

_Damn you to hell, Alice!_

"Hi, Moony," I said, not looking up from my book so that he wouldn't see how red my face was.

"Sage…can I ask you something?" I finally managed to get my blush under control and I looked up from my book and nodded. He sat down next to me, completely missing how my breathing sped up, and looked down for a moment.

"Can I go back to reading if you're not going to talk?" I knew I was abrupt and rude but you try liking someone! Remus flinched and then met my eyes.

"Erm…you know the Christmas Ball is coming up, right?" I nodded slowly, not catching on. "Well, I…I wanted to ask…"

"What?"

"Doyouwanttogototheballwithme ?" he blurted out. I frowned and tried to process exactly what he'd said.

"Do I what?" Remus took a deep breath.

"Do you want to go to the ball with me?" I blinked before turning bright red and immersing myself in my book.

"Um…yes…I'd like that." Remus's face broke into a wide grin and then he frowned when he looked at my book.

"Nicole…your book's upside down." I let out a small squeak and then righted it, laughing nervously.

"What are you reading?" he asked and in reply, I held the book up.

"Pride and Prejudice," I managed to say without stuttering or making an idiot of myself. Remus's face lit up and he looked over my shoulder at the page.

"Um…what are you doing?" I stammered, my face turning red again. Remus backed away a little, also red.

"Oh…sorry…I wanted to read with you…but if you don't want to…"

"No, I don't mind," my traitorous mouth said and my body betrayed me by shifting so that he could see the words with me. I could hear his slow breathing and it was driving me nuts; I had to resist the urge to just grab him and kiss him because I knew that if I did so, I could ruin things.

Later that night, when I went to bed, my last thought was, _Why was Remus staring at my lips half the time?_

-NM-

As I had predicted, Lily, Marlene, Alice and Bella made a huge deal over me and Remus going to the ball together.

"See, he _so _likes you!" Alice said happily at lunch one day. "Why else would he have asked you?"

"Because I'm his best friend?" I said half sarcastically. Marlene banged her head on the table.

"When will you get it? You like him. He likes you. Hurry up and kiss him already!" I glared at her and flicked some porridge into her face, making her shriek.

"Who likes who?" a familiar voice asked and I turned to see the other Marauders behind us.

"No one!" I said hurriedly, stuffing a spoonful of porridge into my mouth.

I had to write to Tante Apolline and tell her about this. She was ecstatic.

_Now is your chance, Nicole! _she wrote to me. _Make sure you tell him how you feel at the ball!_

Sophie was very happy too and kept saying how she knew we were meant for each other and was Remus going to take me away on a horse?

_She's been reading too many Muggle fairy tales, _I thought in annoyance, blaming that annoyingly cute Jesse Roberts - Elizabeth had included a photo in Sophie's letter for me and Jesse was a cute, brown-haired little boy with dark brown eyes and a mischievous yet innocent smile.

I felt a little sorry for Sophie though; when the time came for Hogwarts, their friendship would definitely become a little rocky, since she wasn't allowed to tell Jesse about magic.

"Aww, that is too cute!" Lily cooed when she read my letter. "We should call you…Cinderella!"

"Why?" I said, eying her suspiciously.

"Because you'll fall in love at the ball!" she said as if it should be obvious. "And besides, Cinderella has blonde hair!"

"I hate my life." I slammed my head on the table.

All too soon, it was the twenty fifth of December; the night of the ball. When I woke up to see a mound of presents in front of me, the first one I grabbed was Remus's. When I opened it, I gasped. It was a beautiful silver necklace with a deep purple stone set in it - an amethyst, my birthstone.

"It's so beautiful!" Alice sighed, looking at it.

"He so does like you," Bella smirked. "No one gets someone who's just a friend something like that."

"Oh shut up and put it on for me," I scowled and she laughed that annoying laugh of hers and fastened it around my neck, where I touched it with a small smile.

My other presents consisted of prank products from James, Sirius and Peter (how original - it's not like they didn't get me them every other year), a charm bracelet from Lily (looking around, I saw that she'd gotten the other girls one each too), a scrapbook of our seven years here from Alice, sweets from Bella and Marlene, a homemade bracelet from Sophie and Jesse (who was either extremely tolerant of Sophie or going to be girly when he was older) clothes from Tante Apolline and Oncle Pierre (surprise, surprise), a framed photo of me, baby Sophie, Maman and Papa from Sacha and her boyfriend Jacques (that made my eyes water) and yet another box of sweets, this time from Charlus and Dorea.

"Good haul this year!" Marlene commented while snacking on some sweets.

"Damn you, Sirius, it had better be good!" Alice, Marlene and I started at Bella, who was clutching a note.

"What's going on?" I said warily.

"Sirius just left this note saying that he'll have my real present tonight!" Bella replied. "He'd better be right or no sex for a month!"

"Didn't need to know that, Bells…" I said, turning green while Marlene hooted with laughter.

To avoid seeing Remus and making things more awkward than I was sure they'd be tonight, I clung to Marlene, Alice and Bella today like glue, not giving him a chance to talk to me. I knew I was being a little childish but hey, you try liking someone!

We spent the day having a massive snowball fight while Lily was stuck in the Great Hall decorating it for the ball and then warming up in the Head Boy and Girl quarters with the massive fire, chatting excitedly about the ball that night.

"I am beat!" Lily exclaimed, climbing in through the portrait and slumping on the carpet. "A whole day decorating that massive hall is bad enough but with Potter?"

"She likes him," I nodded to Marlene, Alice and Bella and Lily let out an indignant squawk when we laughed.

An hour before the ball was due to start, we invaded the bathroom to have showers and then locked ourselves in so that the boys couldn't walk in on us - twenty Galleons said James would bring Sirius, Remus and Peter in here with him.

While Lily dried my hair and started to charm it into bouncy waves, I put Alice's hair into a French braid while Marlene tied her hair into a low side ponytail and then helped Bella put her hair into a messy bun.

After applying our makeup, we helped each other put on our dresses, which were all short. Bella's was a rose-pink colour, Lily's was shiny and dark blue and mine was dark purple - all three had spaghetti straps. Alice's looked like a knee-length, shoulderless yellow shirt with thin straps and Marlene's dress was strapless and black with a ruffled skirt and a silver strip across the top.

"We still have ten minutes left," Lily told us when we were ready. "Do we keep ourselves barricaded in here or do we take our chances out there with the boys?"

"Well, we do have to get to the Great Hall," I said sarcastically, not pointing out that the other Marauders and I knew every secret passage this castle held. "I say we chance it. And besides, we can always use Lily and Bella as distractions for James and Sirius." Marlene and Alice started laughing as Lily and Bella shot me withering looks.

"Well, we'll use you to keep Remus away then," Lily said dryly and I promptly went red.

"Touché," I muttered.

The boys were nowhere in sight and the five of us slipped out of the quarters and down to the Grea Hall, where everyone from fifth to seventh year were milling around outside - it had been agreed to keep the ball for the senior years only.

"There you are, you sly old dog!" Bella said loudly when she spotted Sirius and I had to hide a snort at the dog part. "You'd better have my Christmas present!"

"Erm…later this night?" Sirius said nervously, scratching the back of his head, and Bella narrowed her eyes.

"Potter's still not asking me out!" Lily whispered to me.

"Er, maybe that's because his eyes have fallen out?" I said back, looking at how James was staring at Lily with his jaw on the floor. "And besides, I thought that was what you wanted." Lily blushed a deep red colour.

"I - I do want that!"

"Not!" Marlene coughed and I disguised my snort as a cough.

"Nicole?" I blinked when I saw Remus in his dark dress robes, looking like a bloody god.

"Er - Remus! You look great!" I managed to force out and saw his cheeks turn light red.

"So do you." We just stood there awkwardly, until the doors to the Great Hall opened and we all flooded inside. I got lost in the crowd and when I'd managed to detach myself, I couldn't find the others.

"Great, lost in a giant ball," I muttered, weaving my way among the people milling around.

"Nicole!" I pushed my way in the direction of the shout and saw that the boys and girls had formed a small group and were waiting for me.

"Where'd you go?" James asked.

"Got lost in the crowd," was my irritable answer as I tried not to focus on the fact that Remus was standing right next to me, which wasn't very date-like behaviour.

Dumbledore stood up to make some sort of speech thanking the Head Girl and Boy for making this possible and wishing everyone here a pleasant time, before sitting down in his golden chair and signalling for the music to begin.

"I'm going to hit the snacks!" Sirius said and made to disappear but Bella grabbed him.

"You'll do no such thing," she said dangerously. "Now, you and I are going to dance, clear?"

"Yes, ma'am!" he gulped and allowed himself to be led out onto the dance floor. The rest of us cracked up at the mighty Sirius Black being bossed around by Isabella Hart. Although to be fair, she was pretty scary when she wanted to be…

Alice vanished to find Frank Longbottom, Peter headed off for the snack table and I noticed James trying his hardest not to stare at Lily, who was chatting to Marlene.

"Ask her to dance," I whispered to him and he jumped.

"What makes you think she'll accept?" I smirked and tapped my nose.

"Women's intuition." James slowly sidled up to Lily and held his hand out and after a moment, she smiled and accepted it and followed him out onto the dance floor, shooting me a small smile on the way.

"Knew it," I said, still smirking.

"I never thought she'd ever speak to him without calling him an arrogant toerag," Remus chuckled. For once, I didn't blush when I looked at him, which I hoped was a good sign.

"She likes him," I grinned. "She's just too stubborn to admit it."

"So…do you want to dance?" I blinked at Remus and his outstretched hand before hesitantly taking it and following him onto the dance floor. I tried to ignore his hand on my back and focus on my breathing but it wasn't easy, especially when he shot me that annoyingly cute smile of his. I felt myself grow hotter and hotter and when the song ended, I gasped out, "I need some air!"

I weaved my way through the dancing couples and to the big doors, which I stumbled through and out into the cold. I cursed when I began to shiver and cast a warming charm on myself before walking around slowly, trying to ignore the couples sneaking out for 'fresh air' and I gazed up at the moon.

Why was it so hard to tell Remus about my feelings for him? He was my best friend! But deep down, I knew that was exactly why it was so hard. Consciously, I knew he liked me back but somewhere deep in my subconscious, I didn't want to take the chance and make things even more awkward.

"Nicole!" I turned and groaned mentally when I saw Amos Diggory approaching me, looking as pompous as ever. Remind me again how the jerk got into Hufflepuff?

"Hello, Amos." I tried to keep the annoyance out of my voice, especially when he got too close to me for comfort.

"What are you doing out here all alone?"

"I'm getting some air - I was a bit cramped back there."

"So it's nothing to do with Lupin?" Amos's dark eyes studied me shrewdly, making me feel uncomfortable.

"No, it's - it's nothing to do with him." He picked up on my hesitation.

"I know it is." I fidgeted nervously. "What do you see in him? I'm so much better than him!" I narrowed my eyes at him.

"Don't talk about my best friend like that," I said frostily but Amos waved it off like it was nothing and slung an arm around me, ignoring my struggles and cries.

"Let me go!" I said.

"I know you want me," he whispered. "Deep down, you know it." He crashed his lips against mine in a very unpleasant and forceful kiss and I struggled furiously as his hands started moving south before he was ripped away. I gasped when I saw him lying in the snow, bound by what appeared to be the Impediment Jinx, and Remus was standing over him, wand drawn and a murderous expression on his face.

"I believe she told you to let her go," Remus said in the coldest voice I'd ever heard. Amos struggled against the jinx, his face furious. "Now leave her alone." He flicked his wand to release the jinx and as Amos got up, he looked at me like he wanted to repeat his previous actions but thought better of it with Remus next to me and stormed back inside the castle.

"Are you ok, Sage?" Remus asked concernedly, his anger evaporating in an instant. I nodded shakily, not trusting myself to speak. I couldn't believe Amos had the nerve to do that! I only hoped that the girls didn't get wind of this or there'd be bloodshed.

I suddenly launched myself at Remus and clung onto him tightly, though I wasn't crying, and he patted my back awkwardly. When I let go, I looked down and said, "Remus?" He waited for me to go on.

"Well…I…you see…the truth is that…"

"What is it?" Was it me or was Remus suddenly looking very awkward?

"I…" Oh, why was this so hard? Suddenly, without warning, I pushed my mouth against his and he froze for a moment, before responding so passionately you'd have thought that he had experience in this sort of stuff.

"I really like you, Remus," I finally managed to get my mouth to say when we separated. In reply, he rested his hand on my back and was so silent that I felt a small worm of horror settle in my stomach.

"Moony -?"

"I like you too, Nicole," he said quietly and I sighed in relief and hit him gently on the arm.

"Prat," I grinned. "I was worried there for a moment!" Remus chuckled softly and then we kissed again before returning to the ball.

* * *

**That book Nicole was reading was chosen at random. How should I know what they read in the '70s? I'm certainly not that old!**


	11. Proposals, Birthdays and Orders, oh my!

**A/N: I am SOOOOO sorry for making you guys wait! All I can say is that Mana just got Internet back, she and I hate asking her neighbours to use theirs unless it's for schoolwork and I've just been too lazy to write (you know, those times when you furiously write and then lose the fire for a while) :(**

**Ok, no more review responses, unless it's a question or something I'm curious about, since they clog up my A/Ns. Thanks to dragonmia, A french reader, Spottedmask12, hufflepuffloveforever.x and A Person Who Likes Cats!**

**A Person Who Likes Cats: Well, this fic was inspired by Maddaz a Hatter's story but I tried very hard to separate them - the nationality thing was inspired (Greek, French) and I was tempted to make Nicole part Veela but thought against it - it would've been too similar, so I settled for her being related to part Veelas. And Mana…well, like I said, she only just got her Internet back, plus she recently got a job at Woolworths and she hasn't even started the next chapter.**

**Disclaimer: Are you people idiots? Haven't you been reading the last chapters, where I keep saying I don't own it? Gosh… **

Life after Remus and I had gotten together was perfect. Amos had finally gotten the message and backed the hell off, though that never stopped him from shooting Remus death glares. But since he got together with Glenda Baker a few weeks after the Christmas Ball, that point was moot.

Something else happened on the night of the ball. When everyone flooded back into the common room to get ready for bed, Sirius, in full view of everyone, knelt down before Bella.

"What's going on?" I whispered to Remus but he shrugged.

"Oh Isabella, you are different from any girl I've ever met!" Sirius proclaimed dramatically. "I can't imagine anyone else I'd rather spend my life with, Isabella…" I tuned out after that, not wanting to hear any more of his sickening monologue, until he pulled out a small box and said, "Isabella Hart, will you marry me?"

The room was deathly silent.

"What do you think, idiot?" Bella said loudly and kissed him very thoroughly, making everyone applaud. Lots of girls even cooed and squealed when he slid the ring onto her finger, though a few of his die-hard fan girls who hadn't yet gotten the message that he was taken looked very jealous.

"That was…unexpected," I said when everyone had disappeared. "I didn't think Sirius had it in him to be that sappy though…" Bella glared at me.

"Isn't it a bit…_early_ to get married though?" Lily chose her words carefully. "I mean…you _are _only seventeen…"

"Lils, there's a war going on out there," Sirius said, being serious for once. "No one knows exactly how long we're going to live, or when we're going to die. I'd prefer to get married early than to die, never having told Bella how I feel."

_What the hell is he on? A Sappiness Potion? A Mushy Elixir? A wrongly-done Cheering Charm? _I thought as Bella beamed and kissed him. I agreed with everything he said though; you could never get married too early in war - heck, Molly Prewett and Arthur Weasley had married when they left school! - but I was wondering where exactly he'd learned to talk to girls like that.

"James may have given him a few lessons when he told us his plans," Remus chuckled when I told him quietly.

"That explains _everything_!" I said dramatically, hitting my forehead with my palm. Lily, Marlene and Alice then swarmed forwards, demanding to see the ring and squealed about how pretty it was. When I saw it, I had to agree. It was a golden ring with a ruby on it - simple yet beautiful.

"Have you got a date yet?" Lily asked once the ring-induced euphoria had died down.

"August," Sirius replied confidently. "I wrote to James's mother and she's going to help organise it."

_It's like he was sure she'd say yes._

"Who are you and what have you done with Sirius Black?" Marlene voiced my exact thoughts and we all burst out laughing. The whole school wouldn't stop talking about this for a week and even the professors were offering Bella and Sirius their congratulations.

Lily and James were finally on best friend terms with each other and I was glad that James had stopped hexing Snape (in front of Lily, anyway) because it seemed to have proved to Lily that he had grown up. I knew she liked him when Bella, Lily and I were in the Heads quarters common room in the first week of January and I caught her writing in her diary.

"What's this?" I grinned cheekily, looking over Lily's shoulder. She went pink and slammed the book shut.

"N-nothing," she stammered. I raised my eyebrows and grabbed the diary before she could do anything.

"What does it say, Nicole?" Bella said and I flipped open the book.

"'Dear Diary'," I read.

"No! Give it back!" Lily cried, jumping at me. I threw the book to Bella, who continued.

"'I am so confused! I know I keep saying that I don't like Potter but he has grown up so much over the year!'"

"Please, give it back!" Lily wailed as Bella launched it at me.

"'I think I might like him! He's certainly good-looking and very mature…'" I was cut off by Lily bursting into tears and running up to her room.

"Maybe we overdid it a little…" Bella said sheepishly and I nodded.

Lily didn't talk to me or Bella for a week after that and neither did James when he found out what I had done. Peter was with James (as usual) and Remus stuck by me but strongly disapproved of what I'd done and kept making me feel guilty (even if it was unintentional) but Bella and Sirius were the same as always - I guess the temptation of sex was too much to handle, along with their engagement.

"I said I was sorry!" I said to Remus at breakfast two weeks after the incident when Lily refused to glance at me and instead started talking to James.

"You really hurt her feelings, Sage," Remus sighed, taking my hand. "You invaded her privacy and read her private thoughts out loud - she's not going to forgive you straight away."

"But Bella doesn't even seem to care that Lily's mad!" I said, gesturing to where she and Sirius were snogging and turning others off their breakfast.

"She's never snogged this much, has she?" Remus pointed out and I frowned when I realised that he was right. Bella had been snogging Sirius more often now, which I realised was to keep her mind off Lily being upset at us.

I knew that Lily would ignore me if I said anything so I pulled out a piece of parchment and scribbled a quick note asking her to hear me out before asking the person next to me to pass it on. When Lily read it, her eyebrows creased together in a frown and she pulled out her wand and burnt it.

"I guess I deserved that," I said quietly as she turned and buried her face in James's shoulder.

In fact, it was another week before Lily would even glance in my direction and even then, the look in her eyes made me feel guiltier than Remus could even make me feel. What made it worse was that Marlene and Alice were on her side - I knew they'd be but they were a little…cold.

"Yes, I know what I did was wrong!" I burst out to them when Alice opened her mouth yet again. "But can you ask her to at least hear me out?"

But Lily didn't. It had been two and a half weeks since she'd stopped talking to me and Bella and now even Bella was feeling it. Finally, that night when I was doing homework with Remus and Bella and Sirius were snogging (surprise, surprise), Lily approached me.

"James said I should hear you out," she mumbled, sitting down next to Remus. I was silent for a few moments and Bella had stopped and was staring at Lily. "Well?"

I took a deep breath and then poured out the sappiest, most heartfelt apology I'd ever said in my life. When I'd finished, Bella and Sirius looked disgusted, Remus was rubbing my arm proudly and Lily had a small smile on her face.

"I forgive you," she said quietly and I cheered and enveloped her in a bone-breaking hug that made her hiss until I let go. She turned to Bella, one red eyebrow raised.

"Erm…what she said," the black-haired girl said, nodding towards me. "You know I can't stand the touchy-feely stuff, apart from when Sirius…oh, what the hell?" She caught Lily in a hug that rivalled mine.

"Finally!" Marlene and Alice plopped down with us and James and Peter followed. "Now, I want you to promise that you won't go reading Lily's private thoughts again!"

"I promise," I said quietly and Alice beamed. Bella nodded when Marlene looked at her. At least one thing had come out of this; Lily was now very close to James and I was sure that she was hanging for him to ask her out.

"Ask Lils out, I guarantee she'll say yes," I hissed to James when we left that night for the Gryffindor common room. When I looked back, he looked like he'd had a whole glass of Elixir of Euphoria.

The next day, I realised with a start that Lily's birthday was next week.

"I know," James said when I told him at breakfast.

"What sort of stalker would he be if he didn't?" Sirius grinned and James gave him a withering look as Remus, Peter and I snorted.

"Are we going to have a party for her?" Peter piped up when we'd finished. James, Sirius, Remus and I exchanged looks and then nodded, evil smirks on our faces.

Lily wouldn't know what hit her.

We spread the word, being careful not to let any of it reach Lily's ears, and soon all of Gryffindor knew that there was going to be a birthday party for Lily on Monday night.

Alice, Marlene and Bella had been tasked with decorating the common room. James, Sirius and Peter would sneak out to Hogsmeade to get snacks and drinks and Remus and I had asked the elves down in the kitchens to bake the best birthday cake ever - after all, it was going to be her last birthday here at Hogwarts.

It was Monday the thirtieth of January and everything was finally ready. After lessons, I enlisted the help of a sixth year girl, Harriet Andrews, to keep Lily busy while we frantically set up the common room. Remus and I visited the kitchens to see the most beautiful birthday cake we'd ever seen; it was a chocolate cake with green icing and a miniature sugar Hogwarts castle and Forbidden Forest and blue icing lake.

"We is hoping Miss Sage and Mr Moony is liking it!" an elf squeaked - we'd asked them to call us by our nicknames ages ago to avoid getting caught in here, though when the school knew who we were, that point was moot.

"It's wonderful!" Remus breathed.

"Great work, guys," I smiled to the elves, making them beam and their eyes water. We levitated the cake, ducked under James's Invisibility Cloak and slowly made our way up to Gryffindor Tower, careful not to drop the cake. As we were ducking into a secret passage, we heard an irate Lily and a pleading Harriet making their way up to the Tower.

"Shit," Remus and I said together and we bolted as fast as we could and yelled the password when we got to the Fat Lady.

"Remus! Nicole! Finally!" Marlene said. "What -?"

"She's coming!" we burst out together and Marlene swore and took the cake off us and put it in the middle of the snack table.

"Hide!" James bellowed and all the Gryffindors jumped behind couches, chairs or tables or hid on the staircases. It was completely dark, since we'd put out the fire.

"Harriet, why am I not allowed up here?" Lily shouted, storming into the common room. Harriet followed, fidgeting nervously. "And why is it dark?" James, who was closest, sent a silent Incendio at the fireplace, lighting the room up.

"SURPRISE!" we all roared, jumping out. Lily screamed and then collapsed, crying with laughter.

"Don't ever do that again!" she said weakly as the girls, boys and I crowded around her and James helped her up.

"Aww, you know you liked it!" Marlene pouted.

The party went brilliantly; I had an awesome time dancing with Remus and then just sitting with him on the couch, watching the others. Bella was dancing with Sirius, Marlene was making out drunkenly with a guy and Lily was swaying in James's arms. It was perfect.

When it was time to cut the cake, Lily was absolutely delighted with it. As each slice was cut, I handed it out to each Gryffindor that was actually awake (which was most of the fifth, sixth and seventh years by then) but we saved the big sugar Hogwarts for ourselves.

James then did the cheesiest thing; he held Lily's hands, made a long speech about how he'd chased her for years and then asked her out to Hogsmeade on the next visit. She gave him a thoroughly non-verbal response.

The next day, when Lily and James entered the Great Hall hand-in-hand, I saw students everywhere, and even some of the staff, exchanging money. Who knew Lily and James were that entertaining? Snape, though, didn't look very entertained.

The next month flew by quickly, filled with massive amounts of homework in preparation for our NEWTs. My cousin Luc laughed at how much work we had once, though he shut up when I pointed out that I wouldn't be here to help with his OWLs and NEWTs and he was getting loads of homework now.

Remus and I were still going strong and we usually spent Hogsmeade weekends having a few Butterbeers, stocking up on chocolate for him in Honeydukes and then returning to the school for some quiet time. And no, that wasn't always snogging time. We'd talk about our favourite foods, what colours we liked best; basically, all of our personal interests.

Despite pleading with the others not to go all-out for my birthday, they didn't listen and threw a massive party, then repeated the feat in March. I was pretty sure that the Gryffindors were ecstatic about Lily's birthday being in January, mine in February and James's in March; that was a birthday each month.

Mid-April was met with terrible news.

When I entered the Great Hall late and sat with Lily, I noticed that she looked like she'd recently been crying and James was nowhere in sight.

"What's up? And where's James?" I asked, sliding next to her.

"His - his parents," Lily sniffed. "The Death Eaters got them." I got a sinking feeling in my stomach. Charlus and Dorea, who were like my second parents, were dead. Murdered.

"And Sophie?" I murmured, too afraid to ask.

"She's ok," Lily said and I felt the sinking feeling ease up slightly. "She was at Jesse's house when they came." I was so relieved; if she'd been in the house and I'd lost her…

"Where is she now?"

"She's still there - everything was told in James's letter. She's upset but fine."

"We have to go help James," I said and she nodded. We both stood up and flew out of the Great Hall and up to the Heads quarters. We found James in his room with Sirius, Peter and Remus, clutching a letter.

"Oh, James," I breathed and gave him a big hug. When I broke away, I saw that his hazel eyes were bloodshot.

"I don't think he'll be well enough to come to class today," Lily said quietly. "We'll stay with you, ok, James? Friends are more important than classes."

We spent the rest of that day with James and the next day, I got a letter from Sophie. She said that she was fine and happy staying with Jesse and that he and his parents knew about magic - apparently, Jesse had performed a bit of accidental magic and she had blurted everything out to them. They probably would've thought that she just had an overactive imagination if not for the strange things that she and Jesse caused. She was happy about that, though - it meant that she knew Jesse was coming to Hogwarts with her.

A few weeks later, James, Sirius, Remus, Peter, Lily and I received a summons from Dumbledore, who told us that he enjoyed Honeydukes chocolate.

_Who doesn't? _I thought but the boys seemed to know what he was on about - apparently, he disguised his passwords as little hints about his candy cravings. I snorted when I heard.

When we entered the office, we saw quite a few people there; Bella, Marlene and Alice were there, along with Frank Longbottom.

"Good day," we heard and spun around to see Dumbledore smiling solemnly at us. "I expect you're wondering why I have summoned you?" We nodded.

"As I am sure you are aware, there is a war going on. Quite a few of you have family and friends who have already fallen to it…" James, Frank, Bella and I grimaced; Frank had lost his father and one of his aunts to the Death Eaters and Bella's parents and non-magical brother were killed last year. And then there were James's and my parents.

"I have founded an organisation to fight back against Lord Voldemort and his Death Eaters -" A few people winced at the name Voldemort, "- and I am offering you all the chance to join the Order of the Phoenix."

"I'm in," James, Bella, Frank and I said immediately, thinking of our respective relatives.

"Don't," I muttered to Remus when I saw him open his mouth to protest. "I have to do this. For my parents and for Sophie."

"Well…I'm in then," he said.

"Same here," Sirius nodded determinedly. Lily, Marlene, Alice and Peter agreed.

"Excellent." Though I noticed that Dumbledore seemed proud of our decision, it didn't make him any happier and I knew that he was thinking about which of us would still be alive after this. That thought didn't improve my mood either.

**Seems a bit of a weird place to end it, but whatever. Sorry if this chapter seems rushed but…I'm kinda bored with writing about Hogwarts. Not a lot of interesting things happen… :(**

**Ugh…Mana's always getting ideas out of nowhere (which is why she flits from story to story - you don't want to see how many ideas are on her laptop XD) and she's got an idea about a Marauder's Era story where the girl is a fifth Marauder (we have a weakness for those XD), is a vampire (a full one, with her own made-up traits), falls in love with Sirius and then a sequel, but she doesn't want to use the vampire idea and be accused of copying Maddaz a Hatter! What do you guys think? Would it be copying if she used the idea?**


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